Exclusive | Social Media a key ingredient of marketing mix: Religare's Subhrangshu Neogi

There is no doubt that being active in social media and digital both have been responsible in reshaping our  interactions and reactions. With the advent of social media in the digital age, we  are social 24x7 and present on  millions of sites simultaneously. DMAi, a 21 year old organization, in association with SAP conducted an interactive and immersive discussion which took place on 19 September 2013 at The Leela, Gurgaon. The agenda was to discover, learn and share how actionable insights can spell business success and more specifically how social media measurement has gained currency.

In an exclusive interaction with Subhrangshu Neogi, Director - Brand & Corporate Communication, Religare spoke to Adgully and shared his views .

Over the past almost 2 decades, Subhrangshu has worked extensively in sales, marketing, brand management across categories such as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Retail, Telecom, Media and Financial Services and has consistently been a part of industry and category success stories.

Speaking about the Social Media industry, he said, "Yes Social media today has become increasingly relevant and important . In the services business specifically customer engagement and client servicing plays a vital role. So, looking at that factor Social media industry stands really well in terms of engagement with the consumers but at the same time given the pitfalls that exist in this interactive platform, the challenge is how to measure and justify the investments happening on social media."

"Having said that social media is a great tool and is here to stay. Lately it is seen that  the audience and the marketers both have started accepting it. They have not only accepted it but have started sensing the power of the medium. The organizations are today evolving and experimenting the medium and hence the entire scenario is changing very rapidly," Neogi said.

The fact remains unhidden that social media presence by itself is no guarantee of building a robust conversation or meaningful interaction with your customers. In fact, diving into these unknown waters without proper tools has had several brands floundering to stay afloat.

Speaking about how social media is being used at Religare, he said, "We are new to this space and it is early beginnings. Traditionally we have built the brand through ATL and conventional methodologies Digital, I would say, as a phenomenon has hit us  fairly recently and as we focus on ROI led marketing initiatives across the portfolio businesses it is a medium that we are looking at very closely  . Within the overall digital pie, social media still is very nascent at this point of time but are definitely looking at growing our presence considerably in the near future."

Religare has also recently launched its online investor education initiative www.smarterwithmoney.in . Equipped with interactive tools, smart videos and lucid articles, the website aims to demystify finance for the average investor and the common man. Elaborating on the initiative, Neogi said, "At the heart of 'Smarter with Money' lies a simple concept that the user should be able to find all the information he/she wants and consume it in a format (text, video, tools) of his choice. The idea was to de jargonize this category for a potential and nascent investors. The emphasis is on providing precise answers to specific questions that users have."

Traditionally as a business the company has been around since 15 plus years but Religare as a brand has been around since 7 odd years. Since then the brand has been really active on the ATL mediums including TV, print etc. Neogi believes that during the last couple of years, since the time Digital has hit the walls, the energies have gone in building the brand and generating business throughput on that medium. He says, "Looking at the evolution of the medium and the industry, I do believe that going forward Digital will form a significant portion of our overall spends "

He strongly believes that Social media is all about engagement and also a medium where the consumers are miles ahead of the marketers/advertisers hence leading and shaping the evolution of this medium unlike in other traditional mediums wherein the media owners and publishers are shaping the category. Also more importantly a brand has to be bold on social platforms and open to boqu ets and brickbats given that consumers have taken charge. "I strongly believe that on this medium what we, as brand custodians can do is to just spark meaningful conversations and then let the consumers take the conversations ahead. However it is mission critical to play the role of a shepherd, moderator or a 'sutradhar' in their conversation "

"Secondly one more key trend that is visible given the way the consumer decision journey has evolved with digital that brand preference, consideration and even purchase can happen on social platforms. Many industries like hotels, travel, apparels, lifestyle products and even automobiles are already witnessing this. Going forward I believe that this will play an integral part in the consumer and the marketer's life," he added.

In conclusion Neogi said the he was glad to have participated at the DMAi event and   expressed the need for many more such events and discussions which help in in sharpening our understanding of  the space. 

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