Interesting Discussion Around Social Media Case Studies at the 98th Social Media Breakfast

Today we completed 98 straight meetups of the Social Media Breakfast. In the last 98 weeks, we have discussed, dissected and analysed all possible dimensions of Social Media. What makes this interesting is that the game keeps evolving, the players keep changing and so do the rules. It is survival of the fittest all over again. The topic of discussion today was Social Media Case Studies. The focus was to share the stories behind social campaigns, campaigns run by our participants or the ones which impressed us.

Behind The Scenes

It was wonderful to hear behind the scenes stories of how social campaigns are run and how different people approach their objectives. Aashish shared how a weekend campaign on Twitter brought in high levels of engagement by bringing together a team of 15 people, who had no experience using Twitter. The key was the process and brief training on that process, which made them Twitter crackers and kept the Twitter account buzzing with RT’s and Mentions. Nivesh shared his case of bringing the revenue up for Mobile Apps by his unique campaign on Twitter. Kaushik made a point about the important of measurement, measuring sentiments is fast becoming a standard practice for social media marketing.

What was common in our experiences was the persistence to adapt, we only figure out what works by trying and eliminating what doesn’t and when something works, you bring it front and center. That’s how a best practice is born 🙂

The Challenge?

What brought a quick challenge in the meetup was an opinion expressed by two participants that Social Media is not working for them, hasn’t work for them and they don’t belive it can. Both sell products online and have had their presence for a while.  Find below a quick list from what was discussed.

• No one gives a damn about your product, stop peddling on Twitter/Facebook
• Start by building a community around your product.
• How can you enhance the lives of your users with your product? Your content strategy will be based on this
• Develop themes around how your product can enhance lives (If you sell flowers, think 50 ways of how flowers can enhance the life of a person)
• Start a Blog, an active blog where you provide posts or videos around the theme.
• You build credibility and a brand as you go along
• Interact with your community, help them. Think conversations not campaigns
• It is a long term strategy, for short term, go for Ads
• In the end it is about selling more Products, but with inbound marketing
• Creativity: The tools are everywhere, its how you can weave an idea from it
• Have fun while at it 🙂

There is but one challenge here – about rising through the chaos of content and the only fitting solution is about ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and the most important and differentiating factor – Creativity, which sets apart winners from everyone else.

Social Media for Social Cause

Towards the end Kaushik shared the case study of how an Open Heart Surgery was live-Tweeted. We felt strongly about contributing our skills towards a social cause, or perhaps taking the Social Media Breakfast in a complete different direction after the 100th. ‘Social Media For Humanity’ is the suggested topic for next meetup.

Facebook Vs Google: The Battle For Internet Dominance, Update from 97th Social Media Breakfast

Internet Dominance was at the center of discussion at the 97th Social Media Breakfast. We are just two meetups away from the glorious 100th meetup, a long journey in setting up a discussion forum on Social Media in Delhi. From our bad experience at Cafe Coffee Day last week and their ‘policies’ about breakfast timings, we had to change the venue to Sagar Ratna on the last minute, they open early, always helpful and can accommodate large groups. The agenda was to discuss Facebook and Google from the perspective of developers, marketers and end users. Both internet giants are locked in a tussle to outgrow each other. Where do users spend more time on: Google or Facebook? The focus was to look at the view from 10,000 feet and see who’s winning this battle. From Social Network, Mobile, Display Ads to Search.

Internet Dominance

We agreed that internet dominance for any service or product would translate into the time users spend.. The more time a user spends on a given service, the more it helps the bottom line. Time is Money, haven’t we heard that before. First get them hooked, then find a way to monitize that potential. Facebook has done it, Twitter is beginning to do it and Pinterest is thinking about doing it. Over the last decade, the internet has evolved into many verticals, and different services compete for different spaces. We did a quick  survey within the group to have the following results for who dominates which space:

• Search: Google
• Social Network: Facebook
• Mobile OS: iOS
• Productivity Suite: MS Office
• Video Sharing: YouTube
• Maps: Google Maps
• Online Communication: Skype
• Chatting: Tie (GTalk, Facebook, Skype)
• Games: Facebook

Mani Singh pointed out an interesting fact that the largest demographic of users these days on Facebook are aged 16-25 years, when a service figures out a way to tap into that segment, the numbers begin to grow.

Facebook Vs Google

It is reported that Facebook logs 700 billion minutes of usage per month, it surely has a high level of engagement which keeps the users coming back for more. This emerging trend has got Google concerned, since the one who rules the usage time, rules the game. Comparing it to Google’s own tools/products like Search, Gmail, Google Apps, YouTube and the new Google Plus, the usage time directs the revenue in the long term. We discussed and compared Facebook and Google’s products and here’s the result:

• Social Networks: Facebook rules here, Google Plus is turning to be a ghost town. (What do you think? Let us know in comments)
• Display Ads: Google’s Adwords is the leader in this segment, but Facebook Ads is fast catching up. Kaushik felt that Facebook’s display Ads are showing tremendous growth and offer better customization and targeting options.
• Mobile: Google’s got Android. There have been rumors of a Facebook phone but nothing concrete to mention. Facebook’s App on iOS and Android is a big hit though, drawing high engagement from users.
• Search: Google recently merged search plus social. The challenge for them is that their ‘Social’ isn’t catching on as fast as they hoped. Facebook on the other hand is strong in Social, What stops Facebook from launching search capabilities and drawing from its social expertise?

Differentiator

Towards the end, we concluded that the differentiator in this battle for Internet Dominance would be the revenue. Marketers prefer Google Ads when they want to sell, Facebook is viewed as a Brand enhancement option. Google drives way more revenue from its Search & Ads business. How Facebook would catch up and dominate in coming years would be interesting to see.