'Social media can't be ignored'

Sundeep Kapur serves as the director, strategic market, e-commerce at NCR Corporation. Sundeep has been assisting organizations with their social marketing strategies.

In the DQ Live session in Mumbai sometime back, Sundeep Kapur talked about 'How a digital marketing strategy can help your business'. Sundeep talked enthusiastically about how social media has become a big part of the internet culture of many companies.

Today, every company, small or big is having or at least thinking of having a social media presence. But what makes a difference is what, how, and when you act on social media platforms.

"Social media can't be ignored. Ignoring or remaining dormant would cost heavily. You would miss a whole set of new business opportunities and also it helps your company to be transparent," said Sundeep Kapur, digital evangelist, NCR Corporation.

Here are the five key points that every company should consider to get their social media approach right:

1. Social media strategy
Companies should emphasis on creating social media strategy. Without a strategy, companies undoubtedly will be lagging far behind in the long run. It's time to involve your entire organization in planning and execution, which should involve every possible stakeholder, not just the CMO, CIO, etc.

2. Downward communication
Social media is not just about posting comments on blog and forums. Improved social media communication benefits every company if the engagement is carried all the way down to entry-level employees.

3. Engagement of customer
Engagement is the soul of social media. Engagement represented by the content should focus on what is inside the social media message. Content should be written keeping in mind the taste and preference of the target consumer.

 

Grab their attention, keep them tuned in and make sure that the consumer is receiving your message and paying attention to what is being sent and follow up should be there. ''Make sure that the consumer is paying attention to your messages across all the social media channels," said Kapur.

4. Goals should be realistic
One should understand their social media goals and tie those into your overall company goals. If social media goals are different from company's goal then it is a possibility that employees can be confused that which one has to be followed first.

But if it is align together then objective can be achieved properly. Always try to keep your social media goals specific, realistic which needs to be measurable.

5. Mobility can't be ignored
When you speak about social media, you can't ignore mobility. Mobile and cloud together have changed the social media landscape. Both these are changing the way we go online and engage socially. 'Nearly half's of the world's social network users visit sites via their phones' said Kapur.