Delhi votes

As my national capital votes today, I am proud of the increased interaction and participation all over, especially in the social media. Arvind's team put forth a spirited fight, Bedi and the BJP team weren't far behind and finally moved out of Modi's image. Congress' Ajay proved he can face a losing battle. 

This vote is not for a party, not for an ideology and definitely not the result of a glamorous campaign. This vote is for progress, for development and for the democracy. This vote is not for your or me, this vote is for our children, our future. This vote is not for us to throw away, this vote is for our children to preserve. Hope Delhi votes well.

The winners I should say are the people of Delhi, the Delhi voter whom everyone is trying to win over with schemes and the offers. Hope he chooses his government well and hope they live up to their promises.

5 things you marketers shouldn't do on Social Media

The popular belief is that marketers are lairs and sell you stuff you don't need! Marketing has become a profession where everything you do or say is looked at cynically. So it is important to be careful about what you do and avoid mistakes. Here are five mistakes you should avoid when marketing on social media.

1. Avoid partial branding - Give as much information as you can and keep it simple and easy to find out and verify
2. Avoid one-way conversations - Don't just say or be preachy. Start a conversation, a discussion
3. Don't spam - Limit your conversations, posts, updates so I won't feel you are spamming me
4. Be Human - I like your brand and would love to like your personality. Don't just be bland, neutral, have some beliefs and embrace them passionately
5. Stick to the brand - Don't get carried away with the response you are getting and sell me things I don't want. Stick to your brand, don't divert the message. As a consumer, I don't like mixed messages

Want to add some more? Comment!

Homeless fonts and creativity

Sometimes creativity and fresh ideas are right near you but we choose to ignore them.

Homeless fonts chose to #openup and listen!

Stay alive

While you were sleeping, all the data on your computer, phone, social media accounts have been stored at a distant location. Trust me when I tell you this is for your safety. Come on. You trust me don't you? How would you like someone snooping into your phone conversations, text messages, mails and basically your entire life? Scary right? But aren't we all doing the same thing?

We are all online all the time, armed with the hitech smart phones that have cameras which you would willingly pose, send mails on, post pics to instagram, facebook, twitter and many other places where it is easy to retrieve and use for malicious purposes. I am not scaring you but am just exposing the fact. Remember you are not a data point, you are a real person and trust me you would like to remain human. I don't have anything against being active online, I am very active too but always have the human in you remain alive. Draw a line between what you want to share and what not. Stay away from being a compulsive social media member. Stay alive as staying alive is awesome and it is not just necessary to post everything online but to enjoy it while it is live.

Everyone has an audience

Modern life is ruled by social media or social justice. Everyone has an opinion and has an audience. Any act is not gone unnoticed or forgiven. The chance to make news is up for grabs and guess what no one is missing it.

 There are eyes everywhere watching you and your every move. No one would believe what you said as they can now verify. If you know some place where cameras aren't there now, wait and ye shall be seen soon.

It is important for us to behave properly. Though the justice system/delivery is a bit slow, it catches up to you. There are no exemptions. The more famous you are the higher the chances of you to be picked up. That is what the Ecuadoran envoy, Rodrigo Riofrio, forgot when he got into a fight with two women in a supermarket checkout line. It almost triggered a fight between the Ecuador and Peru. Good that diplomacy is going on but it also makes us wonder if we are alone anymore.

So next time you are angry or someone eggs you out, watch out, you may end up as Youtube's next sensation.

Why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di?

Tamil music directors amaze me time and again and I have to agree the world is dancing to their tunes or at least humming in sync. Ever since RA.ONE decided to go the Tamil way it is quite obvious that the Tamil music industry has a lot of sympathizers to its dance and fast numbers across the world. Here is another gem. Even before the film 3 is released, this song is a rage on Youtube and other social media sites.

Releasing it on Youtube is an excellent marketing game and having Danush sing the catchy tune with some excellent screenplay and mixing the song seeps in to the viewers and have them humming. Did they anticipate this? Don't know. But this was a good try and if it is a hit then why not! Having a good product is the least of your strategy. Having a great marketing plan is the ace. The combination always manages to hit the chord.

Know-ember!

I love November or Know-ember! You are almost at the end of the year and lots of celebration for Christmas and new year. This know-ember at Consumer Psyche, we look at learning a lot of things, at least 30 things which are new and can help you and me to be better human beings. The first is a post by Niyati which speaks about the joy sharing your knowledge can bring to your life. I love the concept of blackboard and how simple it is to transform someone's life just by showing some care , compassion, love and extra-time. These kids might not grow and become a pilot or a doctor as they aspire but definitely they can be better than destined because of Niyati. YOU can make a change in someone's life too and guess what it will make you better and happier.

If you think you know something that would fit in here, feel free to mail or add. Keep reading, watching, learning or stay stale!

Save ME!

All Bengalurians please pick up tees at Lifestyle as part of the proceeds would go towards the well being of the animals at the Bannerghatta National Park. The collection reflects the animal theme and has various options to choose from. The prices are reasonable too. What I would have picked up is anybody's guess.

Social values & purchases

Your purchases are determined by what you read, understand and get to hear. They echo your habits, ideas, principles and beliefs, in all... your psyche. So when you know that a certain cola is causing ground water problems for some women in Rajastan or Kerala you tend to become averse to that product and skip its purchase. Not everyone does this but some do. Unfortunately the brand can't cheat you anymore like they used to do in the 70s and 80s. This was a time when TV and newspaper were the only sources of information apart from what was printed on the product's label. Information here acts as a moulder of psyche and guides consumer to make better choices and developing his psyche. This provides a leveling field equalizing all options.

Consumer knowledge is no longer peripheral but intense, wide and deep. This is bad news for products aren't built on societal values. Things like employing child labour, dangerous conditions at workplace, exploitation of natural resources, global warming are now turning to be deterrents of brand value like never before. Consumer's contribution-to-society-ego is satisfied here and hence the preference. That's why you pick up brands that donate a part of what you pay them to charity. May be a small amount but it tilts consumer's choice and hence worth it.

Should brands use this to leverage themselves over competition? I think they should. What if all the brands start doing so? Will the percentage of contribution or quantity matter then? My choice would be to a brand that is genuine and clear in its conscience when it says it feels for my principles and choices. It should connect to me on an emotional platform. Does this money actually go to change anything in the society? While many think this is just another social marketing gimmick, I hope it does.

What do you think?

Permission Marketing: References

Lovely has a point on Social Marketing. What happens if your doctor or lawyer or friend approaches your family or friends quoting you as a reference? What are the implications?

First, you loose the trust, feel cheated. Then your friends loose faith on you for giving out their personal info. The doc/lawyer will loose out from both. He lost your friend as well as the existing one: You. So how do we use the network of others or contacts to increase your clients? How do you sell your product / service to a network?

Simple. Permission marketing applies here as well. You approach the first one and then ensure they are happy and extremely satisfied with your product/service and then you go further asking for a reference. Your offer should be the best and outstanding. Ask them to approach or introduce you first. Then make your move. Fix an appointment and meet. The advantage here is that the prospect knows about you, your product, what to expect, how to react and so on and you have already closed half-the deal. It would be easy for them as well, as this is an existing relationship extended. The reference makes all the difference. I call it Social Marketing.