Ekalavya Bhattacharya

I liked Masala Zone (Bandra), I’ll never go back.

Masala Zone is this pretty cool place in Bandra. It’s not too popular and which is probably why I liked it. It’s a place where you can manage to get a place to sit on a Friday/Saturday night.

Being a regular patron there, I’d always recommended this place for a large group. 

Then the problems started. A friend suggested I check the bill the next time I visit Masala Zone. So I did. And Yes! They had billed us for 2 extra beers. And this happened again a month later.

Tonight, reluctantly I went to Masala Zone again. Mainly because I was joining friends who were already there. So we decided to specifically keep a count of the number of drinks/food items that we were going to order.

Something extremely predictable happened again. 1 extra beer and 2 extra Rums! This was the limit. So I called for the manager. He refused to alter the bill. He also refused to give me a log of the rounds that had been served.

When I explained to Mr Vinod Das (who’s the Manager there) - that it wasn’t about the money and more about values, Mr Das said something which bothered me. He said that, one customer didn’t matter to him. He didn’t care if we came back to the place again. He said he’s seen many people like me. Wow! I’d like to meet such people!

It’s a great business plan. When there is a large group of people, sneak in an extra couple of drinks in the bill. Many won’t notice. If it is blatant and you are caught, apologise and alter the amount and hope that the customer doesn’t ask you for a refund on the Service Charge, VAT and Service Tax. You are still making money!

Next time you are at any place - please keep a tab on what you order. I’m sure there are many places like Masala Zone in Mumbai and India and probably even the world.

I’m definitely not going back to Masala Zone again and would strongly advise you to not pay them a visit either.

Anyway, this has given me an idea.

I just booked the domain name - CountYourDrinks.com

The plan is to build a cool mobile app via which you can count the number of drinks you’re having. If any of you want to build it and take the idea - you are most welcome. It bothers me when hotels and restaurants have to resort to cheating their customers. Let me know your views. If there is something like this already there - I’m definitely going to start using it.

Was part of this cool initiative by SocialSamosa, where they conducted a 2 day online panel discussion.

Here are some of the questions that I answered:

What kind of analytic skills in Social Media is required to make it countable for Health Care industry?

‘Social Media Analytics’ is an insanely huge debate! I would say it is still a lot about individual perception and often just gives a false sense of control to the manager. i.e. the one seeing all the reports!

What Social Media does provide is a lot of data. The beauty of course lies in meaningful insights which you can get out of these.

If I was working in the Health Care space, I’d clearly look at CPA from various different angles. The cost of acquisition per patient/user might be the ultimate value, but how do you get there is what needs to be analysed. Who is reading, who is clicking, are there inquiries, what’s the quality of these inquiries, are you reaching the right audience, are the influencers (people in Health Care industry) talking?

Another basic thing which needs to be looked at is are you looking at B2B or B2C. A lot of parameters will simply depend on this.

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From past few months, I see everyday some lame keyword trending on Twitter. It’s clear that the aim is to get people talking about the brand. But is it really successful? Because once a word starts trending, it gets being trolled.

So, is there any sense in doing such thing?

I say it is utter non-sense.

Non-branded keywords are something I don’t like and try to avoid. At MTV, I’d rather see trending a topic like #cokestudio, #roadies, #stayraw than tags like #musicilove, #ontheroad etc.

Now, I’m not saying that there is absolutely no benefit in this. The primary problem is that – one doesn’t own the hashtag. Hence, usually there is a lot of trolling / spam. Also, another reason why it mainly bothers a lot of people is that the ROI becomes a perception game.

Look at it from this angle: Social Media Agencies use screenshots of such trending topics, to drive through a perception of ROI on Twitter. It’s a nice show and tell tactic to get the Brand Manager happy and get the brand to pump in more money and increase the retainer fee.

It is a vicious cycle. The brand manager needs to eventually show something to his boss. With Digital Marketing and ‘Innovation on Social Media’ appearing in a lot of KRA forms, such a trend manages to get you some points.

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Pinterest is said to be driving better traffic compared to Facebook. However, Indian Brands are still not so keen on the platform. Have you all come across any such campaigns focused on Pinterest?

Share your experiences..

I think we are all waiting for that one big Indian case study!

At MTV, we did try something on Pinterest when we were launching our Roadies eCom store. We asked users to pin their favourite quotes – Something around the entire Roadies spirit – And we would choose a couple and Tshirt-ify them! This was also coupled with a simple ‘Pin your favourite design’ contest.

Honestly speaking, I don’t know how much it benefitted us. We did manage to get a decent initial surge of followers and a couple of sales.

I think the problem is that everyone is looking at Pinterest with the ROI sword. Because a Digital Agency can thereby justify the price of a campaign on Pinterest. What I feel is that one should simply use it as a creative sandbox and experiment. Brand Managers should take the lead here.

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My question is to Eklavya. I believe you have worked for both, brand as well as an agency. What is better? Working on client-side versus agency-side? My career in Social Media started with free lancing, and then I joined Social Samosa(which is neither). Though I love my job, and I plan to continue full time, I have always had this question on my mind. Secondly, what are the qualifications/experience required for a higher designation in a brand’s inhouse digital marketing team? What is the standard industry pay scale for such a post?

I’ve always been a fan of in-house teams. I think being able to handle your own social media communication is essential.

BTW, MTV is a different ball game. We have a fabulous in-house team. But then again when it comes to Digital, we are not just a marketing function. Digital Content is big business and we often wear the agency shoes when we provide content solutions to brands for Social Media.

I can’t really comment on the last 2 parts of your question. There is no fixed qualification required for a higher designation. Similarly with the pay scale thing. It is a very relative thing.

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Hi,

I am Saumil Mehta. I am first year MBA student of IIT Madras. Due to my immense interest in Social Media Marketing, I did couple of internships in the same area. I have realized the pay scales are not that high and people work in this Industry have no formal education in Marketing. Companies are not willing to allocate too much budget.

Should I consider my career in Social Media Marketing or it would be better if I just keep it as just one skill set.

Hi Saumil,

My suggestion would be to look at the broader career of Digital Marketing. Social Media Marketing is a key function of Digital Marketing.

Additionally, a client side role is something I’d suggest if you want your formal education to be appreciated. A lot of brands are investing in in-house expertise when it comes to Digital Marketing. Such roles primarily involve strategy and dealing with agencies.

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I’m working with one of the top advertising agencies in India as account manager and would like to move to online/digital. Even though I have worked on some online projects for my client most digital agencies prefer someone with digital agency experience which i don’t have. So what i have to do ?

You need to know your stuff, if you do that and that confidence comes across in an interview – I don’t see why a digital agency will not want to hire you.

Your approach shouldn’t be, I want to join the agency and learn. It should be, I have certain expertise in dealing with clients, digital work excites me. Then you mention how you see yourself contributing. Talk about 360 degree campaigns and how the line of digital and non-digital is getting merged. Any agency which is looking at providing integrated solutions, will definitely appreciate that viewpoint.

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Do i need to do Masters to become higher executive in SM?

As i have already completed my 1 year experience in SM.

Experience matters or doing post grads?

Experience! Varied experience helps. Especially if you have handled multiple aspects of Social Media.

Not worth investing in Social Media courses. If you really want a Masters degree – you should work for 2 years and then opt for an MBA in Marketing. Digital Marketing has become a component in most curriculum.

Post-MBA, your general Marketing knowledge and prior relevant experience might help you.

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I have been in PR for 2 and a half years and very keen in developing a career in social media. What opportunities does a PR professional have in social media?

A lot depends on what you want to do in ‘Social Media’. Social/Online PR, Reputation Management, Brand Monitoring, Social Influencing, Celebrity Management etc are all opportunities which you can look at within Social Media.

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I’m interested in Social Media Marketing but since i have not studied Mass Comm and do not have relevant experience, no company is bothered to reply to my applications. The only answer i get is your profile does not match. I have done MBA in Marketing and have marketing experience. Now shall i go and pursue another course and if nobody is ready to hire me even as trainee then how am i going to gain experience. Kindly suggest.

I’m curious. What exactly do you want to pursue in ‘Social Media Marketing’?

Often a certain sense of clarity helps in getting the job. You can’t expect to get any random job. You need to specify what you want to do and how your current skill sets will help you. Often people are willing to do anything under the ‘Social Media’ umbrella and when you do this, you will be competing with 20-21 year olds i.e. fresh graduates. This is where the Salary Quotient comes in.

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I come across a lot of job openings for SM executives but not as much for Digital Media as a whole. What do you think is the reason? Isnt SM just a part of DM and there has to be a bigger plan or a campaign of which SM can be an important part of?

When a Digital Agency says they need Social Media Executives, they usually want people who will make posts and tweets for brands.

Agree with you on the point, that SM is a part of DM. A part which has become pretty important.

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Social Media in India is still at its Nascent stages.When do you think is it going to be structured? When will companies start hiring people based on merit and knowledge?

You’ve actually answered your question. It was quite rhetorical.

Merit, Knowledge and the most important factor experience!

Since Social Media is still in its early stage (I wouldn’t say Nascent), we are seeing a lot of young social media executives in the scene. They will earn experience, the industry will grow and mature.

That’s when hiring processes will become more traditional.

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Does one need to be proficient in data analytics to be a social media analyst? How much of statistical knowledge does a social media career require?

Certain Digital Media agencies have qualitative and quantitative analysts and often these are separate functions. In most companies, the qualitative ones are branded under the tag of ‘Strategy’ and at some places ‘Content Strategy’.

As such a Qualitative analyst, I feel a decent understanding of media, content and brand is enough for a successful career. It’s more about consumer behaviour. You do need to understand analytics and its implications. You need not be proficient but a basic understanding is ideal. If you completely ignore analytics it’s a weakness.

But if you are primarily looking into the hardcore aspect of analytics (quantitative), which I know some eCommerce companies do, then of course you need to know your stuff. The beauty here lies in being able to get meaningful insights from the massive amount of data available.

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Is Technical Knowledge needed for Career in Social Media? or if anyone can join the social media career….?

Social Media is not limited to posts on Facebook and Twitter. We are entering a new wave of marketing-technology, where brands are trying to create social experiences on multiple platforms and destinations. These destinations can even be on-ground. Digital activation strategy with augmented reality, RFID etc are becoming popular.

On the web, your Facebook ID extends to multiple websites which use Facebook API’s.

Technical know-how is a must if you want to extend such solutions.

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I am 31 years old with almost 5 yrs of experience in CRM and SAP. However, I am now quite fascinated with the thought of social media as a career.Is it possible for someone my age to make the transition.If Yes, how do I begin?

There is no limit to what you can do on Social Media. It’s an industry which breeds creativity.

Have a look at what Tata Docomo did on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=510130162383690

You should look at this side of Social Media and not one which deals with basic posts and content creation. It’s never late to do anything.

Last year, I’d blogged about some predictions of 2012. Let’s have a look at what happened to them.

Digital Predictions of 2012

1) E-Commerce:
The industry is growing. Many are bleeding. What worries me is that if the top player is valued a $1Bn+, how did the 2nd biggest player get acquired for just $25mn? 

All the players are spending a lot on mainstream advertising. Will be a really interesting year ahead.

Prediction for 2013:
I love the mobile version of Flipkart. A one click COD order on mobile is a great proposition. I hope some FMCG brand starts using this space smartly. Pinterest is sure to introduce some sort of an eCommerce model too.

Location is going to play a huge role in Mobile eCommerce.

Google is sure to make this a priority. GroupOn seemed like such a perfect buy a year ago.

2) Original Digital Content:
I might be a little biased about this, because of the work that I do, but this space makes the most logical sense. I can’t see you telling your 1-2 Mn fans to keep buying your product, on Facebook. Also, at the same time you need to engage them with something. Content will own the social brand space in the coming years. The ones who can link content to sales will be those who will shine through.

Prediction for 2013:
More investment on content rather than random acquisition of fans. More shows like Nano’s Drive with MTV. 

3) Death of the Microsite:
I’d predicted the death of the microsite. Well, microsites continue to be campaign led.

Prediction for 2013:
I love what Fastrack has done. Why? Because they’ve linked eCommerce with everything on digital. You drive people to the website, not just for getting your message across - but also to get them to buy something. FMCG guys will find this hard to crack, but it has to be done.

If I am visiting your website, I need to be able to buy the product on your site. Tried this on MTV and it worked pretty well. Your own product, your own destination, your own audience.

4) A lot more 360 degree campaigns:
Well, we are seeing this happening. Cadbury was extremely strong with their digital communication in all their campaigns last year. Nothing seemed to be an isolated piece of work.

This trend will continue. There will be an increasing number of digital centric campaigns which will be promoted across other media.

5) Politics:
Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare got massively covered on the digital social space. Bal Thackeray’s death attracted a lot of traction and so did Modi’s Gujarat elections. We haven’t really seen politicians take the Digital space by storm yet, but it is sure to happen.

Prediction for 2013:
The web will be used heavily for political campaigns. Especially since we’ll lead up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Suddenly every politician will have a website, be on twitter, have his election manifesto up on Youtube etc. Nice time for an agency to specifically set up a wing to handle such pitches and campaigns.
 

6) Music Monetization in India:
This is really catching up. I’m truly impressed with Flyte. As predicted, they had an Android app which was launched. The pricing is pretty good too.

Apart from this, the major Music labels are earning a decent amount through Youtube and other music streaming destinations on the web.  

7) Television to become more Social
I’m doing my bit to accelerate this :-)

It is nice to see channels finally realizing that Digital cannot just be used as a marketing medium, but more as a content consumption platform. The beauty of course lies in distribution and monetization on this platform.

Prediction for 2013: 
Smart TV apps by some leading channels is what I think will happen soon. However, this will depend on how it might impact ratings. Mobile monetization of content to pick up too.

8) Financial Dealings online:
Think about it. Are you paying your bills online? Not just bills, everything else?
One business model which I like is GharPay.in.  

9) Facebook Growth in India:
This continues to grow and will see a steady increment. They are at 62 M active users now. I think this number was around 40 in Dec 2011 and 20 in Dec 2010. We are still at just 5-6% of total penetration of the population.

10) Death of the Branded Facebook Application:
Lighthouse Insights has a post on 39 Facebook campaigns.

Go through them. You’ll realise that most are done by Brand Managers to meet their Digital marketing KRA’s and done of course by agencies which are there to make money. Spend some time and see the total number of people who installed the app and didn’t bounce before participating, or were there for the entire campaign. See the number of return visitors, if you are a brand manager. Call me a cynic, but all this does seem a little illogical.

Unfortunately, this will continue in 2013 because Facebook is big and as a brand you need to do something ‘engaging’ on Facebook.

11) More Doctors Online
A lot of startups in the eHealth space. This will be a great market and to see how it develops. If I was a VC, just based on pure intuition and gut, I’d invest in a couple of companies. The other, of course, will be to fund some SDN startups in India.

Some predictions specific for 2013:

• Huge influx of Mobile Apps. But I don’t see many working. Most of the branded apps will be campaign led and such apps can’t really make a difference, apart from the agency winning some random award and the marketeer impressing his boss. 
   
• Responsive Design will become popular in India. More sites like – http://www.yellowpages.co.in/. People will become conscious of the devices that people are using to view their website.

 Note: These are all my personal views and not of the Media company where I work at.

5 days of the Galaxy Note 2 and if you don’t have the patience to read the entire post, then the answer is YES. It is definitely worth it. And NO, it’s not really that big.

The price? At INR 36,900 it did seem a tad expensive; but it looked real good on paper. This particular video got me curious:

Can it really do all that? 

Size:
The first thing I did at the store was to put it in my pocket. I wanted to see how it felt in the pocket and did it actually fit inside! It fit fine. The phone seemed large, but all the people who had it said - You’ll get used to it.

The S2 seemed rather large a year and a half back.. but then one got used to it. The same happens here. So size will not be an issue if you don’t wear super tight pants or if you are a girl and don’t like carrying bags.

Look and Feel:
When I bought the S2, it didn’t feel like a 30K phone. Initially it just felt too plasticky. That doesn’t happen with the Note 2. Nice elegant finish. 

I didn’t opt for a screen guard or a cover. Screen guards I feel simply reduce the ideal quotient of the phone. Avoided a cover because I didn’t want to make the Note 2 bulkier.

Specs:
It’s almost as powerful as my laptop. 2GB RAM, Quad Core - 1.6 Ghz etc etc. 

The S-Pen:
I didn’t really care about the S-Pen. For me it was a stylus which I wasn’t going to use. But give the S-Pen a shot and you’ll be impressed. It does have a slight learning curve, but if you have the patience to learn things, then you’ll love it. Taking notes, ease of sketching, the nifty little gesture features (double tap the tip and you can take a screenshot) all make the S-Pen pretty damn cool.

(Another really cool motion thing is simply sliding your palm across the screen for a screenshot. That’s a little cooler than the S-Pen thing too!)

Camera:
Pretty similar to the S2 with a larger screen. A good camera is mandatory these days and the Note 2 doesn’t disappoint. Video recording is neat too. They have a facial swap feature along with burst mode. Haven’t really tried that too much yet. 

Gaming:
The simple games work fine. They feel good with a larger screen.
Where the gaming gets fabulous is when you play something like Fifa 12, Asphalt, Counter Strike. All the 3 felt fabulous. No glitches. It’s a super gaming device, just ensure your battery is plugged in.

Battery:
I had the Mugen Power extended battery on the S2. That was 3200 mah and lasted me a day. The Note 2 has a 3100 mah battery and does manage to last a day. So as of now, I don’t have an complaints.  

Things I don’t like:

Less to do with the Note 2 and more to do with certain apps.
Probably not all of them are completely Jelly Bean compatible yet.

Things like:

Instagram crashes when you take a pic via Instagram. You need to take a picture from the camera and then share it to Instagram.

Sharing a pic within WhatsApp is really slow. Again you have to go to the gallery and choose the share option (selecting WhatsApp).

I use Go SMS Pro instead of the regular Messaging app. The put phone-to-ear-to-call feature doesn’t quite work if you don’t use native apps. Primary reason I’m still using TouchWiz instead of Go Launcher Pro.

Another thing I don’t like is that the multi-screen multi-task feature (the bar which pops up on hard-pressing the back button) works only with certain apps and that too native apps. So I can’t really SMS or EMail while I’m seeing a Youtube Video because I prefer using TouchDown for Email and Go SMS for messaging. 

Similarly the native Lock Screen isn’t customisable with apps which replace native applications.

Lastly, I wish the Speaker was a little louder. Nothing till date has compared to the Motorola E398. 

Planning on getting the Note 2 or any other phone? But too lazy / scared to switch because of the comfort factor provided by your current phone?

I hadn’t rooted my S2 and yet I wanted something quick and didn’t want to spend money on the back-up of apps and data. The main concern was not about the data in the apps, but downloading 100 apps again. Thankfully there are FREE apps which backup apps (Aptly named: App Backup and Restore) and help in re-installing them to the new phone in one click! Angry Birds, Temple Run, Hide It Pro etc all the apps which have high scores and data which matter to you have user created back-up apps or official back up info.

Go SMS Pro lets you back up and restore SMS’s and so does Whatsapp. If you use Outlook or GMail for contacts - then you don’t have to bother about contacts. Photos and Videos can be backed up by simply transferring to the external SD card. So in about 30 minutes, I was set. Go for it!

Accessory bought:

Have bought something similar to this gadget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRE3EH9enK8

It’s a simple Micro-USB to USB converter. Allows you to plug in a pendrive, copy files, watch a movie off the pendrive etc. 

Everyone’s talking Pinterest these days. Every brand wants to be cool by doing something cool on Pinterest.

But what exactly is Pinterest? Its a place where you are posting (pinning) your interests. Where else have you seen similar behaviour? Yes, Facebook of course.

You find something interesting - and you share it on your wall. But for this behaviour on Facebook, you need to like something in the magnitude of 3x to post it on your wall. Often you are more comfortable just ‘liking’ it on a friend’s or a page’s wall.

Most people ‘Like’ more than they ‘Share’ on Facebook.

Philosophical update by a friend - Like. Dramatic article shared by a girl - Like. Strategy article shared by boss - Like.

Where do these Likes go? They disappear in. Oblivious in the massive Facebook. An image liked today is forgotten tomorrow. What Facebook requires is a LikeBoard. A place where all the likes get displayed. How is it different from a wall? Well you don’t want everything to be displayed on your wall. Primarily because your wall is also used as a direct mean of communication. Apart from just random likes, it has a lot of other things. You are sharing your life, not just your interests.

So a LikeBoard will be a board, which will show - in a very visually appealing way - things you’ve liked. Sorted according to photos, articles, objects etc - But a lot more than just pinterest, i.e. Status/Text updates/Notes liked. Of course brands can have these on their fan pages and add a layer of eCommerce over it. There can be multiple mini-boards, boards which display things that you’ve liked outside Facebook. The article you liked on a blog, but didn’t post on your wall; probably because it was too esoteric and only a certain group of friends would get it..
Well now you have reason enough to post it on your LikeBoard, because you can display a mini-LikeBoard only to particular friends.

It’s simple and it crafts out a display board for the massive amount of like-age which happens on Facebook on a daily basis. I hope Facebook does something like this.