Honey, I shrunk the world

The world has shrunk. Every individual, every society, every country has transformed.
Distances are shorter and connections, deeper. Barriers have melted yet cultures have
strengthened. Conversations are no longer just auditory. Knowledge isn’t just possessed
by the old, wise ones. Inventing new stuff is serious business. Doors have opened. Ideas
have crossed over.

Indeed, digital media has sparked off a human—and technological—revolution.

The time has come to analyze how this amazing phenomenon began and what it is
snowballing into.

1.2 DIGITAL MEDIA? WHAT’S THAT?

Before we jump to global digital developments, let’s get down to the brass tacks and
understand what Digital Media is.

Technically, digital media refers to electronic media that works on digital codes. Digital
content is being created, referred to and transmitted all over the world via digital
information processing machines. In 1984, Rice defined Digital Media as communication
technologies that enable or facilitate user-to-user interactivity and interactivity between
user and information.

1.3 HOW MANY TYPES OF DIGITAL MEDIA ARE THERE?

Products and services are digitally marketed via two media: Internet and Mobile.

Here’s a quick look at the tools of Internet Marketing:

 Media
o Banner advertising
o Email marketing
o Viral marketing
 Websites/Microsites
o Static
o Dynamic
 Search
o SEM
 o SEO
 Social Media
o Social networking
o Social bookmarking
o Content
o Applications
 Communication
 Collaboration
 Multimedia
 Reviews and opinions
 Entertainment
o Blogging
o Social gaming
o Social connectivity tools
 Applications and Tools
 Online Relationship Management (ORM)

Mobile Marketing includes 3 key tools:

 Wap
 SMS
 MMS

1.4 PARLEZ-VOUS DIGITAL?

Users of the internet and mobile are an imaginative bunch of people who are constantly
inventing and changing things around. One of their pet projects is Language. Almost
every day, a new term or phrase is added to the great online dictionary. In fact, words we
grew up with, today have a startling new digi-meaning.

See what we mean:

TER BG AG
M
Tweet Bird call Text-based posts on Twitter.com
Ping Opposite of Pong. Together, Alert used to notify people when they come
another term for Table online on any chat messenger.
Tennis.
Buzz The sound made by an Buzz is an alert used on Yahoo! Messenger to
excited honeybee make people respond to messages.
Wall Rahul Dravid A Facebook application that allows you to
leave messages on your friend’s profile.
Thread Used for sewing A long line of comments on a particular post
in a forum.
Scrap A fight The message you leave in your friend’s Orkut
profile.

1.5 WHO INVENTED THIS DIGITAL LANGUAGE?

Behaviourists the world over agree that individuals’ (customers’) social, psychological
and mental patterns have changed considerably in the last few years. Many attribute these
changes to the steady influence of the Internet. Some have gone so far as to call these
independent-thinking, globally-connected folks ‘Gen-I’ (Generation Internet).

Gen-I’s openness to adapt to change and willingness to experiment with brands has made
them hot target for every smart marketer. Since these eager new customers don’t just
want information about their favourite product—they actively want to engage with the
brands—marketers are now thinking of creative ways to attract—and keep—their
audiences.

1.6 WANNA ENGAGE GEN-I? BUILD A WEBSITE!

One of the key means to reach Gen-I is to build them a website that offers everything that
makes for an amazing online experience. To this end, web developers devised two main
types of websites:
 Static, and
 Dynamic

Both types of websites comprise web pages that have text, images, audio, video or a
combination of these combined to reflect the brand. These web pages are documents,
typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). All publicly accessible web sites collectively
constitute the World Wide Web.

Here’s a little more about both these types of websites:

Static website
Static websites are usually simple websites that have few pages. They have content
similar to a printed brochure i.e. information about the company, its products and
services, contact information, team members and other essential facts. The reason it’s
called a static website is because content does not change once uploaded. All visitors
receive the same information over a period of time i.e. they cannot control what content
they receive via a static website, and must instead settle for whatever content the website
owner has decided to offer at that time.

Dynamic website
A dynamic website, on the other hand, is one that changes or customizes content
automatically and/or frequently based on certain criteria. The page composition is usually
data-driven and collates information ad hoc each time a page is requested.

A dynamic website interacts with users in a variety of ways including by

reading cookies, recognizing users' previous history, session variables, server side
variables etc., or by using direct interaction (form elements, mouseovers etc). A site can
display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or
provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user.

The web grows thicker

Numerous websites have been created by individuals, groups, corporate organizations,
public service organizations etc. to meet the unique requirements of internet users. On the
basis of who is creating the websites, they can be classified as: Personal, commercial,
government or non-profit.

Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has been tracking web growth since 1995,
reported that in August 2005, there were 18,000 websites with domain names and
content. In 2009, the number skyrocketed to 215,675,903 websites!
God’s gift to marketers!

Websites are great marketing tools. With the advancement of Web 2.0 and 3.0, websites
have made it easy for people all over the world to buy goods in a matter of minutes.
Click, click, click! Product sold! What could be more rewarding for a marketer?

Indeed, an increasing number of companies are relying on websites to reduce their

overheads and generate revenue for them. Already business managers have transferred a
significant part of their customer relation and sales functions online. They also use their
websites as an advertising space where their brands communicate with their customers
and prospects. At the same time, marketers are making their websites more interactive
and interesting—with the aim of building long-term engagement with their customers.

How does one gauge the success of a website?

Once up and running, a website’s popularity is determined by tracking how many people
visit the website and how much time they spend on it.

Hence, while one takes a decision to create a website, one must evaluate the following:
 Is there a need for the website?
 Or, does it have the potential to create a need?
 What objective does it meet?
 How will it help anyone?

A website without an objective has no future and shall not see success. To ensure you
send out the relevant messages, everything displayed on your website—layout, content,
design—should tie in with your main communication objective. Whether you are selling
a product, service or idea, one proven way to engage visitors on your website is to
provide compelling interactive content. 

Microsites: Small websites with great power

A microsite, also known as a minisite or weblet, is an Internet web design term referring

to an individual web page or cluster of pages, which are meant to function as a
supplement to a primary website.

In simple words, microsites are small websites that integrate interactive content like
quizzes, tests, games, downloadable content like videos and images–aimed at a particular
group. A microsite’s content largely depends on its objective. Microsites may or may not
be linked to the main website and are generally used to: 1) Create in-depth information
about a particular product or service 2) Lend editorial support to a specific product, such
as a new technology 3) Generate leads 4) Drive traffic to the main website.

You’ll enjoy interacting with brands on these Indian microsites:

Sunsilk’s www.sunsikgangofgirls.com
Dell’s www.takeyourownpath.com
Parle’s www.appyvsgrappo.com
Lipton’s www.stay-sharp.in
7Up’s www.7up.in

1.7 DIGITAL MEDIA MARKETING: DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

Digital Media has, time and again, been credited with having turned the world into a
global village. It has shrunk the world, blurred boundaries and made it possible for people
at two opposite poles to interact with one another in seconds. And now, digital media has
also become popular for making brands familiar, creating buzz around products and
promoting goods and services.

There are three key technologies employed in Digital Media Marketing:

 Pull technology
o SEM
o SEO
 Push technology
o Banner Advertising
o Viral Advertising
o Email Marketing
 Interactive technology
o Social Media
o Widgets
o Online Reputation Management

1.7.1 Pull technology

Often, users have to seek and directly grab (or pull) content via web searches. This is
known as pull technology. Websites, blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are
good examples of pull technology. In each of these examples, users have a specific link
(URL) to view the content they are looking for.

Before we get into the working of search engines, let’s look at some mindboggling
numbers:
 There are 31 billion searches on Google every month
 In 2006, this number was 2.7 billion
  The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years
 It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more
information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18 th
century

(Video on the progression of information technology, Compiled by Karl Fisch, Scott

McLeod, Jeff Bronman)

Looking at these facts, we can estimate the gigantic amount of information on the web.
When internet users require information, they simply enter search parameters in the
search engine’s query box, which results into thousands of pages appearing on screen.

Here’s how people land on your website:

 15% of people simply type the website’s URL in their web browsers
 5% come from other sites through banners, links and pop-up window advertising
 80% find web resources through search engines and directories

These numbers clearly state the burning need for search engine marketing (SEM) and
search engine optimization (SEO).

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a technique for improving a website’s visibility by

getting the site link listed in the ‘Sponsored Links’ of the search engine. Ineffective SEM
causes a website to be displayed among other websites, which are listed lower in the
order of a search result.

Appropriate use of Search Engine Marketing results in an increase in the return on

investments of the marketers by attracting a larger traffic of potential customers. At the
same time, sub-optimal use of the Search Engine Marketing techniques might hamper the
number of visitors to the website dramatically.

In case of Search Engine Marketing, a marketer is usually charged only for those
advertisements that are clicked on by the internet users. The marketers are required to
buy out Keywords and it is up to them to decide the number of keywords, thus reducing
their marketing expenses, which in turn increases the ROI.

What is Search Engine optimization (SEO)?

Given the high volume of web pages that a user is confronted with, one HAS to optimize
a website in order to reach the user. Merely having a website published and submitting its
name to major search engines and directories is not sufficient. One must strive to get the
website listed in the top few positions of the search results that pop out after a user gives
a search query for a related topic. This is important because if the users don’t find you in
the top searches, then chances are that your competitor will take away the visibility.

According to I-Cube 2006, 60% of the users do not read beyond the first two pages to
look for the required information. Thus it is very important for a marketer to mark his/her
presence in the first few results itself to attract the target audience.

Search Engine Optimization is a technique for improving a website’s visibility amidst the
search engine results via natural or organic search. This includes changing or modifying
the website’s programming code. Due to such alteration a website is fully crawled by a
search engine’s spider to index the website’s pages so that it could be included in the top
ranking of the search engine. Altering code involves adding visible or invisible content to
the website.

Changing the source code of a website to ensure a higher place in any search engine’s
result can prove a boon for a marketer, if ethical coding techniques are employed. Use of
unlawful techniques to ensure visibility in a search engine may lead to: banning of the
website from the search engine’s results and unfulfilled customers.

Search engine optimization aims at achieving high rankings for search queries that the
website’s target audience is expected to use while looking for related products or
services.

How can these techniques help a brand?

Search Engine Marketing and Optimization are claimed to be the most effective online
marketing tools. They help in creating awareness and enhancing visibility of the brand
amongst competitors across the globe.

They prove to be more effective because while on a search engine, a user is usually
looking out for related information. Thus the chances of the viewer clicking on the
advertisement are higher. If dealt with efficiently, these viewers can also be converted to
customers.

Moral of the story: It is essential for marketers to understand what Search Engine
Marketing and Search Engine Optimization can do for a brand and thereby, work towards
mastering the two techniques.
1.7.2 Push technology

Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as
well as the recipients (the user). Banners, Email, SMS and RSS are examples of push
digital marketing. Here, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users
(subscribers) for the communication message to be received by them.

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising involves embedding an advertisement into a web page. Banner ads
drive traffic to a website or microsite where detailed information is provided about the
product, service, activity or event that is advertised on the banner.

Media Planning
Website publishers allocate specific spaces i.e. banner advertising spaces, where
marketers can run their advertisements. Of course, marketers need to select the
right websites on which to display their ads. This selection of relevant websites is
called ‘Media Planning’.

Banner ‘Impressions’ and ‘Click-throughs’

When a user opens a web page, a banner advertisement is loaded on the allotted
space. This display of banner is called an ‘Impression’. When the viewer clicks on
the banner, the viewer is directed to the website advertised in the banner. This
event is known as a ‘Click through’. Impressions and Click-throughs are
commonly-used metrics to ascertain the performance of an advertisement.

Banner formats
Banner advertisements can be of various types: Rectangular ads, pop-up ads,
button ads and skyscraper ads. Lately, with the advancement of rich media,
websites have introduced several innovative ad formats such as ‘Page Tears’ and
‘Road Blocks’. If used optimally, these formats can create tremendous buzz about
a product or service and result in successful branding on the internet.

The results of all banner campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately
because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an
advertisement, visit a website, and perform a targeted action.

Viral Advertising
The term ‘Viral’ has been derived from the all too familiar word ‘Virus’ because of the
sheer ‘spreading’ ability of this type of advertisement. Typically, virals are so compelling
that viewers automatically pass them on to friends and family, thus spreading the brand
communication as far, wide and quickly as a virus.

Viral ads are great marketing—and entertainment—tools. They create great hype around
a product or service. They foster sharing and of course, spark off exciting coffee table
discussions. Not all ads have the good fortune of becoming part of household
conversations. Virals achieve this feat because of the very content they contain. More
often than not, virals are funny. Of course, there are those serious thought-provoking ones
too, but those are few and far between.

Virals can either be independent activities aimed at being spread through word-of-mouth
alone, or they can be an integral part of a broader marketing plan that has already been
executed. The best part about a viral is that it is long-lived. It keeps getting passed
around, long after it was launched into cyberspace. It has no shelf life and remains
evergreen in the minds of those who enjoyed it.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing, as the name suggests, uses electronic mails as a means of

communicating commercial messages to:
 Create awareness about a product or service
 Boost sales by bringing in new customers, and
 Instill customer loyalty by generating more sales from existing customers

Email marketing can be done in various ways:

 Sending the promotional email to a specific database
 Inscribing the promotional message in a general mail that is usually used to
forward to friends
 Via ‘Sponsored Ads’ in the inbox of the user
 Contextual ads displayed within an email that has content relevant to the
advertised product or service

Here’s why email marketing is so hugely popular with media planners:

 Email is a cost-effective direct marketing tool. A mailing list provides the

ability to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers at
a relatively low cost. It is less expensive compared to other media investments
such as direct mail or printed newsletters.
  Advertisers can track an exact return on investment i.e. track users via
autoresponders, web bugs, bounce messages, unsubscribe requests, read receipts,
click-throughs and other metrics. These mechanisms can be used to measure open
rates, positive or negative responses, and to correlate sales with marketing. Email
marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most
effective online marketing tactic.

 Emails can be delivered more quickly as compared to a mailed advertisement.

 As the message reaches the users’ mailbox, the chances of it being read are
higher, as opposed to the case in website-based advertising, which relies on a
customer to visit that website.

 There is low wastage as emails are sent to those who have consciously opted to
receive ad messages that are relevant to their interests.

 Specific audiences can be targeted via contextual targeting and geographical

targeting, thus making the advertising more effective.

Yet, advertisers often misuse this medium of marketing. They shoot out thousands of
emails to random people, who are not officially on their mailing list i.e. they ‘spam’
their users’ inboxes with unsolicited mail. This naturally infuriates users and the
email activity ends up doing more harm than good for the brand.

You can use an effective technique to ensure your brand does not face the ire of
consumers. When a consumer opts-in to receive your advertising emails, ensure
you get him/her to confirm that they have indeed subscribed to your ads. This is
known as the ‘double opt-in’ method.

Double opt-in works thus:

 Your consumer agrees to receive your ads
 You send them a unique code and a link via email
 They click on the link and enter their unique code—to verify that they have
indeed asked for your ads.

Having said this, keep in mind that it is also important to give consumers an ‘opt-
out’ option. Responsible email marketers always include an ‘Unsubscribe’ link at
the bottom of their communications. It gives the users a feeling that they are still
in control of the information being sent to them.

If you adhere to the guidelines mentioned above, you will have indeed harnessed
the great power of email marketing to propel your brand to success.

Interactive technology
Interactive digital marketing technologies involve interaction between the marketer and
the target audience. Communities, forums, threads, contests, and opinion polls are good
examples of interactive technology. Such techniques enable brands to build deeper
connections with the target audience rather than just sell the product.

Social Media

Social Media is taking the world by storm. Everyday, zillions of scraps, tweets,
virals, and comments fly from one country to another, in hundreds of languages,
twenty-four hours of the day, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year.

Wikipedia puts this whole Social Media phenomenon into a definition: Social
Media defines the online tools and applications that people use to share opinions,
insights, experiences and perspectives with each other. This can take on various
forms—audio, video, text or images.

More recently, another definition has been accepted: Social Media is a dynamic,
exciting and relevant communications tool that is highly effective in engaging
consumers. It comprises of digital (internet and mobile) tools for sharing and
discussing information. It is basically an integration of technology, and social
interaction via words, pictures, videos and audio.

Simply put, Social Media is all about

 Conversations
 Relationships between people
 Exchange of ideas, view points and information, and
 Self expression

Social Media can be divided into 6 areas:

1. Social Networking Platforms
2. Social Bookmarking Platforms
3. Blogging Platforms
 4. Content, Applications and Media
5. Social Gaming
6. Social Connectivity Tools

1. Social Networking Platforms

Social Networking Platforms comprise websites that connect friends with each
other and in turn, connect their friends’ friends too! Often thought of as
‘interactive address books’, social networking platforms are expanding everyday,
to accommodate the great number of individuals logging on ‘just to say hi’ to their
friends. In Asia, Cyworld, Hi-5, Mixi, Friendster, Orkut, Facebook, Bebo, and My
Space, are hugely popular. Content on these websites is purely user-generated and
of a highly interactive nature. Needless to say, these social networking websites
have virtually become hangouts for the youth.

2. Social Bookmarking Platforms

Social Bookmarking websites aggregate and promote content on the web through
indexing, user-collaboration and voting mechanisms. del.icio.us, digg, Yahoo!
Answers and Wikipedia are some of the most widely used bookmarking websites.

3. Content, Applications and Media

FlickR, YouTube and Slide.com have revolutionized the concept of content
creation, storing and sharing. These websites essentially host and store proprietary
content of all forms, and because of their richness, are fast becoming destinations
in their own right. They are also the source of a lot of content that users publish
back onto their social networks.

4. Blogging Platforms
Blogs and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) are an integral part of Social Media.
They empower individuals to form communities, share opinions (often
anonymously) and discuss a wide range of topics—that are relevant to their
communities.

Blogging has evolved from being a ‘public diary’ into a ‘broadcast platform’
where individuals share their news and connect with like-minded people. Blogger,
Blogspot, Typepad, Twitter and Wordpress are not only sources of entertainment,
but also have a vast database of educational content and current news published by
citizen journalists. Today bloggers have credibility as public informers and as a
result of RSS and micro-blogs, are highly inter-connected and collaborative.

5. Social Gaming
The Internet has made it possible for users to escape from their humdrum routines
into exciting and adventurous gaming worlds where they can put their mental and
physical skills to the ultimate test as they engage in real-time battles with other
gamers. World of Warcraft and Ragnarok are two games that got people, addicted!

6. Social Connectivity Tools

All of the above entities would not be able to operate if it weren’t for the
connectivity tools that power them: Email, SMS, RSS feeds, instant messenger
and live chat. Each of these tools fuels dialogue and connectivity, making the
Internet a place to play, flirt, debate, share, exchange, and vent.

Examples of social media software applications include:

Communication
 Blogs: Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, Vox
 Internet Forums: vBulletin, phpBB
 Micro-blogging/Presence applications: Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku
 Social Networking: Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock,
Hi5
 Social network aggregation: FriendFeed, Youmeo
 Events: Upcoming, Eventful, Meetup.com
 Discussion Groups: Google Groups, Yahoo! Groups, Windows Live
Groups

Collaboration
 Wikis: Wikipedia, PBwiki, wetpaint
 Social Bookmarking (or Social tagging): Delicious, StumbleUpon, Google
Reader
 Social News: Digg, Mixx, Reddit
 Opinion Sites: epinions, Yelp

Multimedia
 Photo Sharing: Flickr, Zooomr, Photobucket, SmugMug
  Video Sharing: YouTube, Vimeo, Revver
 Art Sharing: deviantART
 Livecasting: Ustream.tv, Justin.tv, Skype
 Audio and Music Sharing: imeem, The Hype Machine, Last.fm, Spotify,
ccMixter

Reviews and Opinions

 Product Reviews: epinions.com, Greedreviews.com, MouthShut.com
 Questions and Answers: Yahoo! Answers, Dizzay, HelpGlobe,
WikiAnswers

Entertainment
 Virtual Worlds: Second Life, The Sims Online
 Online Gaming: World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Age of Conan, Spore
(2008 video game)
 Browser Games: OGame, Omertà, Travian, Hattrick
 Game Sharing: Miniclip

Marketers and the art of social media:

For a marketer, Social Media is an excellent tool for building brand value with a
healthy combination of awareness, positive brand perceptions, purchase intent,
loyalty and advocacy. But to use it effectively, one needs to embrace the key shift
in the consumer. The table below explains how the consumer has changed over the
years.

MARKETING TO THE NEW AGE CONSUMER

The New Explaining the shift How digital
Age media addresses
Consumer this shift
From With increased pressure on the advertising Facebook, Google
Bombing to dollar, the new age marketing requires etc. Targeting
Sniping targeting options that ensure that there is based on
no/minimal wastage. Hence the geography,
requirement is of a medium that can not demography,
only sharply target in terms of interests & attitude
demographics, psychographics and
affinities, but also provide horses for
 courses communication.
From Span the entire consumer value chain— Amazon, Dell
Cradle to right from the point of contacting the
Grave consumer the first time to all the
interactions required for conversions, to
after sales, to cross sell/up sell to
referral/redressal.
From The new age marketing requires brands to ConsumerReports,
Consumer identify key members within the audience PencilTrick etc.
to Prosumer and empower them to be brand evangelists. Blogs, Forums,
In an age where the consumer trusts his Reviews.
peers more than any advertiser, these
prosumers become key marketing and
advertising channels.
Marketers need to realize that it is the consumer who calls the shots—creating,
filtering and moderating conversations. One needs to customize advertising
strategies such that they engage consumers rather than sell to them—thus
guaranteeing life-long consumer loyalty and of course, profits.

Widgets

With Web 2.0’s growing popularity, almost everyone is using Internet tools and mini
applications—popularly known as Widgets.

Widgets are essentially used to simplify life. They provide information in a portable and
customizable way—in an entertaining format. While some widgets are standalone tools,
most are often part of larger marketing plan that takes a brand right to the consumers’
desktops, mobiles and even browsers.

Widgets are broadly classified into: Lifestyle widgets and Functional widgets. And so we
have games, tickers, video and audio players, quizzes, and slideshows, which are
Lifestyle widgets, and productivity tools such as calculators, clocks and calendars, which
are Functional widgets. Specifically, Yahoo! Weather is a Functional widget, whereas
iDiva.com’s Always in STYLE is a Lifestyle widget. Whatever be their kind, what makes
widgets so popular is that they can be customized to suit individual preferences.

So who uses widgets?

 Website owners
 To improve on the web experiences of the visitors to their sites so as to
have increased website visits.
 Organizations
To improve their web sites using syndicated content and functionality
from third party providers.
 Marketers
To bring brands directly to the consumers. Widgets make for great virals.
Since they have high usability value—and are both, engaging and
interactive—they get passed around social media networks really fast, thus
making it possible for brands to reach a large number of people within a
short span of time.

While creating a widget, keep these points in mind:

 Have an objective. Like any other marketing plan, branded widgets must, first
and foremost, have an objective.
 Target your widget at the right audience
 Promote your brand and build user-engagement
 Ask yourself: Am I serving a functional need or lifestyle need?
 Add valuable new features to your widget. This ensures that users will return to
your widget even years after it was first circulated.
 Make your widget customizable. Consumers want to be able to select how to
interact with brands.

Take a look at some brands that have successfully used widgets:

Ford SYNC, Mediaedge:cia and Mindshare won the Best Widget of the Year at the 2008
OMMA Awards. The widget targeted 16- to 25-year-olds who were serious video
gamers. The aim was to promote the company's voice-activated Sync technology, via
interactive games. To meet this objective, the team collaborated with comic book artist,
Jamie Hewlett, to deliver widgetized games like Phantom Fury, Hyper Bunny, Ghost
Hero, and Space Jumper. Thus, Ford successfully created a link between the consumer
and the Ford brand.

Nike created a NikePlus, a customizable widget that utilizes the syncing power of an
iPod to record personal workout data. NikePlus connects runners around the world, thus
making monitoring goals and challenges easier.
Sony BMG commissioned Techlightenment to create a Facebook application to celebrate
Bob Dylan’s forthcoming single and his Greatest Hits album. They created a
customizable version of a famous Dylan video, Subterranean Homesick Blues. Users
could enter in the text that Dylan scrolls through in the video and it appeared on their
Facebook profile.

UPS created a small animated character and downloadable desktop application, which
allowed customers to track packages from their computers as well as link to other UPS
services directly from their desktop.

Online Reputation Management

What you are about to read is just one of the many occurrences of consumer ire and its
dreadful consequences on a brand. There are, to say the least, several such true-life
incidents that have badly marred the reputations of well-known companies.

Read on to discover what went wrong with this Fortune 500 brand and how they
managed to rise and regain their goodwill.

“May you burn in Dell!”

This incident dates back to 2005, when Dell Inc was doing exceptionally well. They were
selling a large number of laptops and quickly becoming the preferred choice of people all
over USA. Then, something astounding happened—and Dell nose-dived from being
everybody’s favourite brand to being everybody’s most hated brand.

And it all began because one particularly angry Jeff Jarvis took his ‘Dell-didn’t-service-
my-computer’ experience and pasted it on his blog. Before Dell could understand what
was happening, a few hundred unhappy Dell customers had joined forces with Jeff Jarvis
and were viciously slashing Dell’s reputation in the online world.

“For bloggers’ sake, Dell me what to do!”

As the fury grew, Dell realised the need for immediate action. Almost overnight, they
pumped $150m into their customer service operations. As a result, they managed to drive
down the average waiting time for support calls from 9 minutes to 3 minutes.
Just when life was beginning to look rosier, things blew up in Dell’s face—quite literally.
At a conference in Japan, a Dell laptop exploded. And sure enough, bloggers lapped up
the incident and took it to town.

That’s when Dell was compelled to launch Direct2Dell, a blog where customers could
easily reach Dell and lodge their service complaints. This not only heightened customer
connection with the brand but also directed traffic away from Dell’s overloaded hotlines,
thus saving the company millions by way of customer support costs.

“Dell me more”
In 2007, two years after that war with Jeff Jarvis and his fellow bloggers, Dell launched
StudioDell and IdeaStorm—two social media sites especially designed to enhance
customers’ experience of Brand Dell.

The dust settled and Dell rose like a phoenix. But they had learned a lesson they would
never forget. Dell Inc had unwittingly done what has today become a necessity for all
brands: Online Reputation Management (ORM).

So, What Exactly is Online Reputation Management?

To put it simply, Online Reputation Management is the practice of:

Consistent research and analysis of one’s personal or professional, business or industry
reputation as represented by the content across all types of online media; and,
Taking action thereof, by managing content and engaging in interaction so as to
transform a negative image into positive and maintain it.

What Objectives Does ORM Meet?

1. ORM aims to maximize appearances of positive online references about your
brand. It targets two sets of people:
 Those who actively search for your product
 Those who eventually reach topics related to your product while browsing the
web

2. ORM also seeks to build a positive online identity for you and/or your brand
where your web presence is negligible or doesn’t exist.

3. More importantly, ORM repairs the damage done to one’s reputation, by boosting
positive comments and downplaying negative references on the web.

In doing this, ORM empowers you to:

 Gain insights on what the consumer feels about your product/service. This helps
you formulate measures to improve customer satisfaction. ORM also allows you
to gain insights about your competitors and their customers’ perceptions.
 Enhance customer interaction, thus allowing you to reach your customers more
effectively and build long-lasting relationships with them.
 Identify the real influencers or opinion leaders.
  Understand the relationship between user-generated content and traditional forms
of online media.
 Pull your customers towards your brand rather than pushing unsought messages to
them.
 Subdue the impact of a mistake and rectify the error by talking to your customers.

Someone’s Said Awful Things About You! Now What?

Here’s how you can subdue the effect of negative comments:

Monitor and analyze the content

 Monitor every platform; be it search engines, blogs, social networks,
consumer forums, microblogs, videos or anything else for that matter.
 Analyze the impact the posts have created on your brand and/or your
organization.
 Brands that have been there, done that: Skoda

Interact with your customers

 Answer their queries, solve their problems, take their feedback. Listen and
understand.
 Brands that have been there, done that: Dell

Don’t be too defensive

 Understand that the customer who has written the negative comment has
personally experienced the problem. Instead of trying to defend yourself,
explain the clear picture: Why did the problem occur in the first place?
 Brands that have been there, done that: Dominos

Be honest and transparent

 The truth is that consumers believe other consumers more than they believe
you. They would have done their background research hence make sure you're
honest with them.
 Brands that have been there, done that: Dell

Take Action
 Only talking or listening isn’t enough. The solution is to rectify the error. If
you can’t do this, do something that will reduce the intensity of the negative
effect on your brand.
 Brands that have been there, done that: Starbucks

5 Ways to Ensure You Do ORM Correctly

 1. Consider the issue. Does it concern the lives of people? Their health?
Unsatisfactory customer service? After-sales support? Anything else?
2. Understand the gravity of the issue. How much harm can it cause you?
3. Look at the spread of your organization’s operations. Are you a local or global
company?
4. Find out how popular the person tarnishing your reputation is. A less popular
individual might not garner enough support to cause you damage. However, if
s/he is well-respected, you need to start taking their comments seriously.
5. Find out if the negative feedback is tangible. If you’re selling a product that can
be touched, felt and seen before being bought, chances are that a customer will
check it before following what others say. However, in case of intangible
services, a customer is sure to rely on word-of-mouth.

Where Should You Engage in ORM?

Here’s a list of places you’re sure to find customers speaking about your brand.

Having understood what online media can do to one’s reputation, it is time that
individuals or organizations take Online Reputation Management seriously and start
implementing the strategies.

Mobile Marketing

Beep Beep! 1 message received.

“In August 2008, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign made either history or
political spectacle when it attempted to announce Joe Biden as the vice presidential
candidate over SMS text message. Before the campaign could send the text message
announcement to supporters, mass media scooped the news and broke the story, but the
magnitude of the campaign’s mobile efforts is noteworthy.
Nielsen estimates that the Biden text was received by 2.9 million mobile phone users in
the U.S. over the course of that weekend in August 2008, making it one of the biggest,
broadest mobile marketing stunts to date.”
Source: The Nielsen Company

It goes without saying that these numbers are increasing by the minute. Digital experts
have predicted that the mobile will soon surpass the power and reach of any other
medium.

Perhaps the most compelling reasons for advertisers to include mobile marketing in their
media plans are these:
 The mobile is the only medium that remains with the consumer 24 hours of the
day, 365 days of the year.
 Mobile phones are, beyond all doubt, the most personal and intimate way to
communicate with consumers.
 Mobile advertising is no longer ‘interruptive’ or ‘intrusive’. It gives consumers
exactly what they want.
 Mobile marketing allows marketers to build engagements with mobile users—by
targeting their immediate and specific needs.

Types of Mobile Technologies

As in the case of Internet marketing, mobile marketing also involves pull technology and
push technology.
Pull technology: An advertiser creates tiny portions of content that excites
consumers to ask for more. Or, the user participates in the marketing of his own
accord. For example, he participates in the contests that are advertised.

Push technology: The advertiser pushes ad messages to the user in the form of
full-fledged advertisements or advertisements ingrained in the message sent by
one user to other or by a service provider to the user.

Forms of Mobile Marketing

There are five forms of mobile marketing:
 SMS
 MMS
 Browser-based
 Voice-based
 Emerging formats

SMS mobile marketing

An SMS service is text-based and it typically runs off a ‘short code’. Short codes are 5-
or 6-digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators in a given country
for the use of brand campaigns and other consumer services. Apart from short codes,
SMS marketing is also done via usual long numbers. In this form of marketing,
consumers opt in to receive SMSes from advertisers.

MMS mobile marketing

MMSes contain a timed slideshow of images, text, audio, and video. Advertisers are able
to both send and receive rich content from MMS A2P (application-to-person) mobile
networks to mobile subscribers. In some networks, advertisers are also able to sponsor
messages that are sent person-to-person (P2P).

Browser-Based marketing (WAP: Wireless Application Protocol)

WAP banner ads, interstitials, footnote links, search engine listings, and portal listings are
what comprise browser-based mobile marketing. US-based Mobile Marketing
Association (MMA) provides a set of guidelines that determine the recommended format
of mobile ads, their presentation and the metrics used in reporting.

Voice-based marketing
Voice-based marketing can be classified as push or pull, depending on the role of the
consumer. In push technology, the user is called and informed about the promotion i.e.
s/he is simply a passive receiver of a message. In pull technology, the consumer is
required to call a particular number in order to participate in a contest or promotion.

Emerging mobile technology

Bluetooth, java games, voice mail, location-based services, and VAS have opened up
wide avenues for marketers. With these emerging formats, mobile advertising can be
made interesting—and interactive. This is the most preferred form of marketing since it
allows consumers to view the advertisement along with useful content that matters to
them.

A relatively new medium, the mobile has already proved its mettle—and established
itself as the most accessible medium of communication. Here’s what makes mobile
marketing so effective:
 It is easily measurable
 The medium provides for sharp contextual advertising, and
 Allows advertisers to reach the furthest consumer
o Within a cost-effective budget
o And instantly
IN SUMMARY: THE GROWING POWER OF DIGITAL MEDIA

There is no doubt: The reach of the Digital Media can only grow wider and deeper. Take
a look at some of the factors that will fuel this growth:

 Lower access costs

 More access platforms (for e.g. mobile)
 Local language content
 User-friendly applications
 Increased ‘vertical’ content

With increased number of people getting addicted to Internet and their mobiles, the
digital medium cannot be ignored by marketers. Without any doubt, all advertisers who
make their products visible on the digital space are sure to find a share of their customer’s
mind, heart and wallet.

Advantage digital

 Rural and urban appeal

The Internet and mobile are finding an equal share of audiences in both the rural
and urban regions. With the growth of local language websites, local search
engines and local language messengers, the penetration will only increase in both
regions.

 Inexpensive
The digital medium is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost
against the reach of the target audience. That is to say, advertisers can reach a
wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets.

 Covers the entire value chain

By its very nature, the digital medium allows consumers to experience the entire
consumer value chain, right from when they recognize the need for a product or
service, to when they become aware of available products or services, to showing
interest, making a decision, and eventually paying for the product or service.

 Measurable
Digital marketers have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and
inexpensively. Advertisers can use a variety of methods: pay per impression, pay
 per click, pay per play, or pay per action. Therefore, marketers can determine
which messages or offerings are more appealing to the audience.

 Customizable
Messages sent out to audiences via the Internet or mobile can be tailored to suit
individual preferences, needs and tastes.

 Interactive
The Internet is the only medium that empowers brands to have a direct dialogue
with consumers, gain insights and turn them into brand ambassadors. The
consumer today trusts no advertiser. They’d rather believe what their friends have
to say about a particular brand or product. Digital media, through its various
communities, helps one listen to these dialogues, participate in their
conversations, alleviate their fears and misconceptions, and engage them in a
longer, more profitable relationship.

 Target-specific
Digital media offer the maximum and the finest level of targeting possibilities,
thus leading to minimal/low wastage of spends. Advertisements on digital media
can be changed and modified in real time, as determined by user profiles or other
factors—thus ensuring different consumers see different ads, based on their
profile and requirements.

It is these unmatched advantages that have made the Internet and mobile such effective
marketing channels. It comes as no surprise then that brands advertised on the digital
media have higher brand recall and deeper brand loyalty.