'Listen to customers' the mantra for a successful social media campaign

With social media becoming the buzzword for brands over the last one year, most CMOs have now either created a presence for their brands on social media or are considering taking the plunge in social platforms. However, the marketing community has still not been able to quantify the effectiveness of social media.

Speaking at the 8th Marketing conclave 2012, organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, Virginia Sharma, Vice President Marketing and Communications India/SA, IBM India offered valuable insights to CMOs on social media. She said, "CMOs need to acquaint themselves with technology and social media as their roles change towards becoming a Chief Marketing Technologist. Marketers need to be authentic when communicating with customers via social media. Companies should be treat negative feedback on social media as an opportunity to convert negative commentators for the brand into advocates by responding to complaints effectively on an open platform. "

The speakers were unanimous in agreeing that social media needs to be customer centric in its approach and all digital medium needs to reflect the same thought process. Dr. Subho Ray ' President IAMAI opines, "Social media is a vital tool for a consumer focused brand to speak and engage its target audience. However, for it to be effective, CMOs need to realise that it is different from advertising. For a brand to build a social tribe of online advocates and influencers it needs to encourage conversations between its consumers and itself."

According to Usha Sangwan, Executive Director, LIC of India, "Social Media is a platform to connect with youth, understand them and present the USPs of your brand to add value to the target audience. We in LIC understand that today's generation believes in happy healthy fulfilling life as well as financial freedom, and our brand LIC stand for the same. Accordingly all our social campaigns have been based on this insight which has helped us to engage customers in a meaningful way. Being present on Social Media is a corporate decision and the same can be used as a platform to empower the customer to take informed decision."

While social media is a relatively new platform, the speakers agreed that is it an important medium for brands and brands need to devise social strategies with a view to forge a two way communication channel.