Founder Speak

You probably should not be on social media. And I will give you my reasons. 

Reason 1

You have nothing to say. By that I mean you have nothing meaningful to add to the conversation. All you have is noise, jargon or a sales pitch. You probably have updates like “Come visit us on this day at so so venue” or “come experience the new product”. So you are adding to the confusion and have nothing new to add. Please stay away from social media.

Reason 2

Your company does not allow you to say anything meaningful. You have an archaic policy which forbids you to even send an exclamation mark on Twitter. Not only you the only person who is allowed to tweet is your CEO and his admin uses his id to send a very safe tweet like “Cloud computing is the future of technology”. It’s better to give social media a miss and spend time on something more useful like cold calling.

Reason 3

You believe in only responding to celebrities and other famous people, your customers don’t mean much to you. You don’t believe in understanding the customer needs. Your focus is firmly on the celebrity and things like baby names for celebrity kids.

Reason 4

You believe in letting the marketing department create your content. What is written on your channels is carefully orchestrated marketing spiel. Not the genuine conversation from your experts.

If these four or any of the four reasons are present in your social media strategy then I think you need to  move on and leave social media to the experts.

- By Dr.Vikram Venkateswaran, Founder & Director | TheSocialPeople

Dr. Vikram Venkateswaran is a marketing professional with almost 10 years of experience. He is passionate about public health, blogging, writing, public speaking and lawn tennis. He can be followed on his twitter handle @drvikram. Visit his blog at Docter Soccer.

Founder Speak is our weekly column by the founders of TheSocialPeople- Viral Thaker & Dr.Vikram Venkateswaran.

Weekend Watch

Here's what we mulled over this weekend:

Facebook Acquires Instagram 

The news garnered mixed response from across the world. Several rooted in favour of the acquisition  while many others feared it might dilute the very reason that made this photo sharing app popular. Facebook seemed to be touted as the big bad wolf and Instagram, the poor helpless lamb.

It certainly is hot news, but one wonders if Instagram was ever big enough to pose as competition to Facebook? Did Facebook need to fear this app so much as to buy it out? And is the acquisition as much of a bad news as it is made out to be?

Mark Zuckerberg has stated that he’d be working with the team more closely and help it grow independently as well. This seems to be a smarter move than integrating all the features of the app to the social networking site. And can also prove to be good news for Instagram users. Face it, it was a simple app that grabbed attention mainly for being the first of its kind. With the experience, infrastructure and engineering available with Facebook, there could be a lot more to look forward to than rebel against.

What do you think about this?

Google+ Has a New Look

Oodles of white space to create a “simpler, more beautiful Google”, a ribbon of apps on the left that can be dragged to arrange in the order you want, and live video on Hangouts are some of the new features that are grabbing eyeballs.  Another interesting addition is the Explore page that shows what’s trending across the network.

It’s clean and simplistic with a host of interesting new features. Check out the video posted on the official blog.

Like the new look? Let us know. 

Spotted any other interesting development over the week? Give us a shout.

Gastro Entices - how social media has managed to woo the food industry

Picture this: you’re at the newest Italian joint in town. You have a camera phone and presumably a Twitter app installed. You’ve ordered lasagna and when it arrives, the first few seconds are as intense for the owner, as it is for you. You take a picture of your scrumptious plate, tag yourself, pin the location and all this while the new kid on the food block is twiddling his thumbs wondering if that was a 140 word appreciation or a stinking review that will be picked up by nearly 500 of your online friends. That’s the power of social media over your local restaurant.

While blogging about recipes, reviews, restaurants etc. has been popular for quite a while, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and a plethora of innovative mobile apps have created a mini storm in the food and beverage industry. In India, sites such as zomato.com have a platform on all iPhone Operating Systems, Windows phones, Android supported devices, Blackberry, and Nokia phones. With more than 20,000 menus to boast of from 10 cities across the country, restaurant guides and user reviews, it has turned into a food lovers’ hub.

And the sharing business gets more creative. Around 2009, when The New York Times discovered that people were tweeting complete recipes in 140 characters, it was posed as a challenge to their readers. And of course, received a thumping response.

However, social media doesn’t restrict itself to sharing recipes and reviewing eateries alone. Take for instance, apps like Cookbook that throws up recipes based on ingredients you have in stock in your kitchen. Or The Photo Cookbook which is a collection of various recipes with high resolution photos, that take less than 30 minutes to prepare.

From locating the nearest restaurant based on your current craving to a selection of recipes based on the occasion; vegetarian specific restaurants and even apps that help you track your calorie intake- the relationship between social media and food is certainly ‘app’etizing.

More and more restaurateurs today prefer to market their business through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. It’s a wonderful way to build a loyal customer base through fans and a great platform to announce food festivals, promotions and events. Foursquare promotions are a great tool to promote your business too. Check-in to Foursquare from a restaurant that runs the offer a specific number of times, or walk in with a certain number of friends and you can tuck in a free appetizer.

What interesting food related apps or promotions have you come across lately?

Why Employers Aren’t Interested in Your Resumé

Resumés today are just an old school formality that provides little insight into the person’s past records and true personality.  Most employers today spend less time sifting through clichéd applications and more time surfing profiles of job seekers online.  

Stats show that today most recruiters find that sourcing candidates on social networks saves money. They prefer approaching candidates through online referrals and it also helps them reach out to people who may otherwise have not applied for the position. So be prepared for the inspection. Unfair or not, this is a practice one has to deal with.

Recently there were several incidents across the United States wherein employers demanded that applicants provide them with their Facebook username and password or that they log on to their network during the interview itself. Kind of like handing over your house keys to a burglar holding a gun to your head! The more polite practice is going through only the candidate’s public profile respecting his or her right to withhold any information they deem sensitive enough to keep private.

So, what can you do to be ready for the Facebook interview? 

1. First impressions matter, so make sure your profile picture doesn't show you drinking or acting too crazy.
2. Ensure that all your details across all your social network profiles, match. Fill out the description about yourself in a clear, crisp and clean manner.
3. Use the privacy settings. If you haven’t yet bothered about it, it’s time you started. Personal photos, or any other information that you would rather share with a select group of people, should not be made available on your public profile. After all, you wouldn't want your employer finding old pictures of you at a wild party, especially when if you’ve claimed your hobby is yoga.  
4. Watch what you post and tweet. Be casual but polite. Language does count. So learn to show a little restraint.
5. If someone posts something objectionable on your wall, be sure to leave a calm comment making your stand clear on the subject. Or delete the post altogether.
6. Your profile page isn’t just about keeping information private, but also a great platform to show off your achievements. As long as you keep it subtle. For instance, a photo of you receiving an award without tom-toming about it helps you come across as capable, ambitious and yet, balanced.
7. And if you’ve already landed the job, be smart enough not to openly vent your frustrations against your boss or leak confidential company details on your wall!

So now that you’ve set your profile in order, you can gear up for the personal interview. And this time you can carry that resumé along…for old times’ sake!

Social Media ROI - Gag!

DID YOU KNOW THAT -

1. 26% of B2B Marketers don’t know how to measure their social media success.

2. 63% of B2B Marketers are either vaguely aware or not aware what is being said about their companies online.

Do you think any of these represent the social media adoption situation at your B2B company?