I am also asked by many people about whether they should take a GAP exam and that how it could help them in their careers. Hence thought of writing down my experience and understanding here, hope it helps!

As a person who has worked in Google, cleared GAP certification, and who heads a business unit now outside of Google, I have a specific take on it’s importance for a Marketing Manager in an enterprise.

GAP prepares one to work efficiently on Google’s adwords platform, meaning it allows one to understand the mechanics of adwords, the account structure, keyword discovery, billing and campaign setting, know hows, and many things that as a Marketing Head or a Marketing Manager one could outsource or leave it for an operations expert to handle

To my understanding GAP is NOT a strategic enabler for a marketing manager, it’s great for an opertaions expert who would want to go deeper into adwords ecosystem and become an adwords specialist.

As an analogy it’s something like becoming a MARUTI CERTIFIED ENGINEER- where one is taught in detail about Maruti engines. It does not necessarily make you an expert on GM cars or does not necessarily make you an expert in understanding different types of engines (aeroplane engine, tractor engine, SUV engine etc.)

Similarly, as a Marketing Manager/Head- one would need to be have a basic understanding of Social Media, eMail Marketing, Display advertising and Search advertising  - GAP is not a conduit to know it all and can not take the career in fast track

So, if one needs to become an expert in adwords, and remain focussed in that area, clearing a GAP exam is great!

As a marketing head/manager who wants to now transition into online area, the requirement is to blend his marketing and strategic insights with strategic online practice with some tactical and operational know-how- for which GAP is NOT essential.

Marketing/Business Heads need a dashboard to track and review performance. This dashboard also enables them to build their expectations from different online marketing options (social, search, email and display)

As a marketing/business head, I personally outsource or deploy the internal specialists to handle adwords for our business unit.

So bottomline reality- for Business Managers- understanding of how internet marketing works, various options (social media, display and search marketing) and their understanding of how these work, key metrics to follow and integration of online with traditional marketing is important. Thereafter the day to day operations part can be outsourced to respective specialists (adwords specialist, social media ops specialists, analytics specialists etc.)

For people who want to become only adwords specialist- go ahead and take GAP, and grow within adwords domain. It’s a great deal! But for everyone else GAP is really NOT of such a great use!

What’s your take?

But to consider social media as a short term or one off activity and then measure RoI, seems to be a grave mistake.

More than that, how do we continue your social media campiagn for ever?

Do we mean that Old spice (Read an earlier related story here) needs to run their viral & real time video responses perpetually?

Not really!

We must understand that our commitment needs to be long term or perpetual, but programs and campiagns can change. And they should change.

If campiagns do not change they will set in fatigue.

We can have very clear long term social media marketing objectives, and we can have multiple programs running parallelly or consecutively, each with a start and end point.

Look at how dell or ford do it. I am sure Old spice will also continue it’s commitment and will launch various programs to keep the users engaged, post their hugely successful rel time response viral videos.

So, while the Overall Social Media Marketing Commitment needs to be perpetual, the social media marketing campiagns may have their start and end dates.

And hence, to sum it up:
Keep long term objectives and commitment towards social media, and make it exciting and engaging by creating various short term social media campiagns or programs running parallelly or consecutively. We need to see the trends across these campiagns on various metrices and see how are we faring.

What do you say?

Image Soource: http://xxaggiexx.up.seesaa.net/image/keep_going-card.jpg

I tried to display the above through illustrative models in the presentation.

For everyone’s benefit I have uploaded the presentation on slideshare, and am embeding it here as well.

Do let me know what you think of how social media is changing the communication and decision process paradigm!

The real RoI from social media (buzz or viral effect, thought leadership or engagement) can be achieved effectively if we also focus on Close Looping our campaigns.

For example: I like the Aircel campaign christened “Save Our Tigers” because of it’s overall thought process, but most particularly around it’s attempt to close looping; it’s another fact that the attempt didn’t extend into complete execution and reality, which is sad!

So, Aircel, created an independent website Save Our Tigers and promoted this cause through hoardings and (presumably) barter ads on TV and Newspapers.

The good thing was that all mediums carried the URL of the site, and all had a very focused and common call for action and messaging.

The website gave various options to people to engage with and share. It was also integrated with their facebook page, twitter and blog.

Seems like they also extended it to offline events and seminars, not sure however what participation resulted out of it.

Now, we need to understand that when brands launch a social media engagement program or a cause program like what Aircel did, they create a high pitched initial excitement, which attracts many people to join the cause. However brands overlook a couple of factors:

1. How to sustain the excitement and
2. How to define a timeline (and hence also know when to push the pedal to extend the life of a campaign)

Which is why you must have seen, various campaigns/causes dying a sudden death or people gradually loosing interest.

Close looping if done intelligently can take care of the above gaps. How?

People join a cause or an engagement program because they think that their participation can MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

As a brand, how can you show to each participant that his/her participation did make a difference? The answer to this lies in Close Looping.

Look at a 3 year old endeavour of Dell, christened, Ideastorm! Dell invites people to participate in discussions, submit ideas for new products and improvements, and vote for other ideas.

Dell is clearly close looping by showing to people –what happens to their ideas. Dell has so far implemented over 400 ideas, many other ideas are already in the process of voting.

So participants feel ‘recognized’ and ‘important’ when their ideas become a reality. Others try again-because it’s a transparent process where their peers voted them out or in.

Similarly in the case of Aircel- imagine if Aircel created a TIGER POPULATION CLOCK- and could show how the population is increasing in future, as a function of each new participant in the program. That could be a powerful motivator for people to join-in.

As I said I like the fact that they thought about close looping, and that’s why they have a prominent section on their website ‘What’s the Progress”. However on reaching that section, one could not find any updates. That’s sad!

I think this section can have various updates in the form of either a population probability of tigers, or futuristic population clock, updates from various offline groups holding seminars, an interview with the prime minister/environment minister/chief minister (aircel has tied up with ndtv) and various other things (some of these are already in their agenda and show on the website).

So, a great social media campaign, dying a slow death-because people don’t seem to fathom what difference did their joining the cause made- which in turn makes them less excited ,less participatory and less viral. As a social media practitioner- do think about how could you close loop your social media campaign- because that really defines how great an impact you can create. Do let us know at atomthought if you have already executed close looping in your campaigns, we will be glad to share with our readers on the blog, rss and on social media.

Well,  you saw someone wearing a nice converse shoe, and you end up asking him -where did he get one from. Then you take your best friend and try out the shoes in the store- why did you take your best friend? Oh, because you wanted to get feedback from him on whether the shoes look nice on you or not. And maybe if you were buying an unbranded shoe or a t-shirt from janpath, you might want to take help from your friend in bargaining the prices won’t you?

So, right from getting inspired to getting the location of product availability to feedback and then finally buying; shopping is social even in the offline world!

And that brings us to a couple of questions everyone is asking today- Is Group Buying going to be the next big thing? Or Is Group buying = social shopping?

My answer is -that’s not the right question to ask! Reason?- It’s too early to say anything and is too niche a concept to really take on ecommerce or social commerce.

Let me explain- Group buying as we see today focuses on only one aspect of buying and that’s price or discounts!

Group buying sites like mydala, snapdeal and dealsforyou in India focus on ‘deals’.

And precisely why it’s not the game changing idea.

Let’s take an analogy- in an offline world if you want a deal where would you go? Maybe Janpath or Sarojini Nagar!

And if you want branded and latest stuff where would you go? Maybe to South Extension!

So, there is a need for a deals’ site and there is also a need for regular ecommerce site.

I think there is a clear path for social shopping-which is not just about group buying but about incorporating all the social elements of buying and I think more than group buying it’s the social shopping that will be rather interesting to watch.

Coming back to Group Buying Sites:
Group buying sites today are of largely 2 types:

1. Hyperlocal services based- salon, pizza, spa, restaurant etc.These are city specific services or products which you anyways buy. India, somehow, mostly has group buying sites in this category. ( snapdeal and dealsandyou do)

2. Gadgets- impulsive and good deals. These are not area specific, but things like Netbooks, LCDs, Storage devices, vaccum cleaners those that you will buy if a great deal is offered. (Stuff that woot does).

A 3rd category that I think should shortly make a headway will be where niche products can be sold as deals. They could be fashion items, ethnic items, cruise, even land or apartments. Not sure if any player is already into this. Imagine if a site offers a Car at a deal! I am sure this deal will be a hit in delhi at least!

What are the challenges for group buying sites?

1.Scale- being hyperlocal, one has a challenge of scale. How many hyperlocal areas to be covered? How soon? What kind of infrastructure would be needed to service clients in hundreds of local/hyperlocal areas? The smaller a hyperlocal area the lesser are the chances of getting a deal (it will not be profitable for a vendor in a very small city) hence what is the optimum size for servicing a area?

These are few of the questions that need to be answered while scaling up.

2. Traffic- group buying sites need huge traffic. Because they need multiple numbers of ‘one’ product to be sold. Since group buying depends on free traffic or the social network of buyers-they face a challenge of manipulating or leveraging this traffic fully.

3. How do you sustain excitement-How long can you sell deals on spas in , say, lucknow and keep sustaning interest levels. The challenge will be to innovate in terms of new products and services.

So, today there is no trend in terms of which type of Group Buying site will prosper in future- hyperlocal or Gadgets! Or will the 3rd category that of niche products. It’s too early in the day to make predictions. With Amazon buying woot.com (and a similar frenzy in India too) this space is becoming exciting. So keep observing and do add on here if you have any thoughts-I will be glad to publish the same.

My discussion with Rahul and Geetaj Channana of CTO Forum Magazine, went on for a while and they asked me to share my thoughts as an article in the magazine. SO here is an excerpt of the same article and a link to the full-version below. Hope you enjoy reading the same and do write back with your thoughts! 

 So,  What do you think will power the next generation enterprise?

Maybe you know the answer already – people! Want to go even deeper – it’s collaborative ideas!

The success metrics of new genera-tion enterprise are already very clear: how can we be more innovative, relevant, effcient and adapt to change at 2X the speed thus far?

While the metrics and the power engine (people and ideas) seem traditional, the implications are very futuristic.

CK Prahlad, a world renowned strategy professor and thinker, states that in the new age enterprise will have to focus on a simple formula: n=1 and r=g. What he means by this is that the next generation enterprise will have to create products and services customized for every single consumer and in order to do so they need to source resources globally. No single frm or individual can have a complete monopoly towards satisfying customized needs of individuals in the new age of business. This is the key for Enterprise 2.0.

The next generation enterprise will have to harness the collaborative power of its stakeholders (its buyers and suppliers largely) to generate new ideas, work on those ideas and create innovative, relevant and effcient products that can be adapted quickly.

The next generation enterprises are already facing a tough problem – they are global in nature. Their intellectual capabilities are scattered across the globe. The only means to organise this intellectual energy is email and the age old intranet! Read this article where it was originally published: http://www.thectoforum.com/content/powering-next-gen-enterprise

image courtsey: http://www.searchviews.com/wp-content/themes/clean-copy-full-3-column-1/images/twitter-for-business-intelligence.jpg

In offline world- one of the reasons why despite being free-not many people opt for credit cards these days- because exit is complex, insurance policies-again exit is tough.

One of the reasons why ‘word’ and ‘excel’ became ubiquitous was their ability to get integrated with ‘lotus’ or ‘wordstar’, then the leaders,  (in terms of capabilities of using same commands and importability) as also the ability to function on various platforms. ‘Wordstar’ and ‘Lotus’ kind of tried to lock-in their users, which is perhaps why they lost the game.

It seems that now allowing people the freedom to exit or taking the application to any platform will be of paramount importance towards winning the game.

The new age consumer will soon evaluate a product or service also on it’s ability to allow no-hassle exit or portability.

Is facebook thinking on these lines? Should we be surprised to hear that facebook will allow you to take your friends and conversations to any social network?

I can remember an old adage- if you love someone set him/her free!

What do you think?

You have the option of integrating twitter and using applications like Polls etc. and I guess you already know about them. You also know about the power of interactivity and how small, relevant and continued snippets of information can keep your fan based engaged and growing. So we will not talk about these but let’s talk about 3 things which will create a great 1st impression and almost guarantee you a growing fan base.

1. Use a tower banner for your logo- No need to have your small sized logo on the lest corner. You can use a 200*600 pixels image and upload it. Take a look at how we do at Atomthought’s facebook page.

2. Integrate FBML- You can use this tab as a landing page specially if you have an interactive or dominant imagery. For example at our Bixee facebook page we are trying to promote a service with Free Gift Vocuhers.
Since we have made this as a default landing page, we get the maximum eyeballs for our promotion. Is it difficlut. Not really!

Here is how you can do it too:

 Step-1: Capture a screen shot of a page that you want to showcase.

 Step-2: Upload this screenshot on a  site like photobucket.com
 
 Step-3: Get the html link to this photo (it’s very easy, when you hover your cusror on the uploaded image in photobucket it gives you various options to link up to your photograph including an html link)

  Step 4: Go to ‘edit this page’ on your facebook page

  Step 5: Scroll down till you reach FBM- click on edit and insert the html code.

 Step 6: In the first line of the code where a URL to your page is mentioned-delete the same and add the URL of the page where you want people to go after they click on your image. (See in the first line we have added our bixee-landing page URL, and deleted the URL that came from photobucket)

That’s it:

4. Refer a friend Box-

Step1: In the edit FBM page add one more FBML, and then click on edit FBML1

Step2: Now you can put this code:

<fb:request-form
method=”post”
type=”bixeejobs”
invite=”true”
content=”Check out the bixee page on facebook!<fb:req-choice url=’http://www.facebook.com/bixeejobs’ ‘ label=’GO’ /> “>

<fb:multi-friend-selector actiontext=”Tell your friends about bixee!” rows=”3″ showborder=”true” />
</fb:request-form> Step: make sure you replace bixee’s facebook page address and names with yours

So, now we have a great towering logo, a great landing page and a great referal mechanism-maybe you can give away a movie ticket etc. to highest referres each week!

This is how our bixee landing page looks like on Facebook:

And this is the refer a friend page:

So, go ahead, use your creativity and create great looking facebook page. Don’t forget there is still no substitute for relevant, non-spam and continued interaction. AND WHEN YOU ARE DONE- SEND US YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE LINK AND WE WILL SHOWCASE IT AT ATOMTHOUGHT!

Header Image source: http://how-to-blog.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/FacebookFriends.jpg

Answer: Precisely why!

Both the portals are huge and overlapping, offer similar services , own similar resumes and display similar openings.

This signifies that:

1. there is a clear need for differentiation.

2. Due to the lack of differentiation people have no choice but to flock to the 2 big players.

Question again: Who is the winner in this market?

The one with the largest repository of resumes?

Answer: Maybe not! If that was the case the market share gap (in terms of traffic)
between naukri and monster would not have been so huge.

Times jobs with such huge investments and claims of highest volume of active resumes
is still number 3 in terms of traffic share.

I am taking traffic share as an indicator of popularity and hence measuring all the top 3 job portals on this plank. (Comscore 2009)

We also spoke to many employers and job seekers and found a few revealing aspects of usage behaviour:

1. Employers are willing to shift to a player which is more performance oriented both in terms of quality and efficiency (time taken to post a job, payment method, time taken to get candidate response etc.)

2. Candidates want a great CV as a first impact opportunity, but do not want to pay and are hesitant to use a webcam to create a video CV.

3. Candidates do not restrict their job search to job portals but also social media. Facebook, twitter and linkedin are fast becoming hunting ground for both employers and job seekers

I think the way to succeed in this market is by creating and capturing value for both parties
- employers and job seekers- SIMULTANEOUSLY. The value should be clear and relevant as also should impart differentiation.

Based on user feedback we presented the following compelling value propositions

Employers:

1. Post as many jobs as they wantfor Free

2. Don’t wait for candidates to apply- bixee’s smart match technology will push matching candidates in seconds after posting a job

3. Get to see complete CVs Free (without name and contact details)

4. Pay only for the CVs that you want to contact

5. Showcase your company through a multimedia enabled microsite Free.

While you can see 5 points above the major value and differentiator is Pay for Performance.

So far employers were paying anything between Rs.500-900 for a single job posting, irrespective of
whether they receive any CV or not.

In our case they pay only for worthwhile CVs. No risks. I thinks this is a great differentiator.

Employees:

1. Create a multimedia Resume for Free. If you got a certificate, scan and integrate with your CV,

If you made a great presentaion or whitepaper, integrate via slideshare, if you have spoken somewhere
integrate a video, even if you haven’t you can always showcase an ad commercial that as a team member you created.

I think given a choice every person can find a multitude of things that he/she can showcase.

Take a look at my CV at http://bixee.com/saurabhpandey

2. Get a Free vanity URL, and be able to share your profile via, Social network and email

3. Get Real Time Jobs- We know that job seekers are on facebook, linkedin and twitter. We also know that
employers are also on these networks hunting the right candidates and pushing job openings.

On bixee- job seekers can search jobs which are being tweeted on twitter minute by minute.

I guess all the features above add immense value for both job seekers and employers to do the transactions on bixee

With this initiative we have launched a few firsts in India like:

1. India’s 1st multimedia CV

2. India’s first Real Time Jobs

3. One of India’s early (not the first) pay for performance model for employers

and also interestingly Bixee is one of the very few online portals that staretd micropayments as early as January 2010. Employers can actually buy one single contact at a price of only Rs 29/-.

I believe that once we reach a threshold of users the revenue stream through micropayments will be very huge. Remember one CV can be contacted by many employers, and hence owing to this overlap and a small price-this model can become very attractive and huge.

Apart from the above there are 2 more monetization model which have not been properly exploited:

1. Brand Advertising with engagement and performance parameters(cannot reveal more as of now)  and

2. Mobile monetization ( i have a few ideas, need to think more)

Let me also admit that this a humble begining, and I have immense respect for what India’s
no.1 job portal has achieved so far-so this post is not about how smart one is or not. This was to share
real life thought process and how we are trying to create value and differentiation in a market where we feel differentiation and re-creation of value can disrupt the network effect of the no.1 player.

The other objective of this post is to listen from you on what else can be done, I am sure I can
do with advice on many things that I have missed so far.

Ending this post with a hope that you will check out www.bixee.com and also revert with your feedback
and advice.

Look forward to listening from you!

I find facebook notes more powerful than twitter. I can put random thoughts, receive comments and the thoughts grow into something more meaningful and bigger in size.

Tweets are ephemeral, they are lost quickly, tweets are also restrictive.

Overall I guess one needs to intelligently use both the apps, it’s a pity though that not many people use notes features.

Facebook also on the other hand needs to work further on notes. For example how do i integrate my notes  with my 2 business pages? How can I have common notes across etc.

On the other hand, I have been able to integrate my blog with it and suddenly I have a populous notes section. I can also feel that it’s easir to pen down thoughts than writing a full fledged blog, writing notes is also quicker and one can do it via mobile from anywhere. It looks like a great tool for establishing thought leadership. Just imagining how this tool can be used by many CEOs to express their thoughts and establish tought leadership, not just that ideas can be invited and discussed as well.

Essentially notes are social but less frivoulus than social network comments, notes are microblogs but more comprehensive than twitter, and notes are complete expression through an online dialry just like blogs but much easier to execute , maintain and share.

What’s your thoughts on this?