\u201cFor us, social media is about delivering our brand promise \u2013 \u201cWe\u00a0 help you buy\u201d \u2013 and making it come alive. The key to our social media strategy is to take it slow and measured and ensure brand consistency across online and offline channels\u201d \u2013 Deepshika. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Some of the things that Croma does:\u00a0 \u201cWe are brand agnostic \u2013 so for us translating our brand promise into something tangible involves building on the theme \u201coccasions when you use your gadgets\u201d, she explained.\u00a0 \u201cFor example \u2013 we have a constant photo contest \u2013 which could run to colour as the theme during holi, and lights as a theme during Diwali\u201d.\u00a0 Similarly, we pick up issues of relevance e..g June 5^{th<\/sup> was environment day and we agreed to contribute for every sale of a \u2018green\u2019 gadget from our stores.\u00a0 For us Social media is about engagement \u2013 not about creating sales; and customers respond with their views on how, where and when they use their gadget. This translates the \u201cwe help you buy\u201d promise into reality.<\/p>\n}

\u201cHow do you deal with negative customer feedback?<\/b>\u201d:<\/b> The unanimous view was that the worst possible thing a brand can do is to delete negative comments on social media.<\/p>\n

\n

Abhishek – \u00a0\u201cWE have 900 stores and sell 200,000 handsets a month.\u00a0 There are going to be slip ups.\u00a0 Customers (and their friends) can and will be nasty on my FB page. Do I have an option to delete the comment? Sure.\u00a0 Can I afford to do that \u2013 No\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

The solution?\u00a0 \u201cDeal with the problem the customer has. At the very least acknowledge it and apologise. In many cases, having done this, we\u2019ve had customers go back online and post follow up comments that they were \u201chappy we did not delete the original comment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found that, not deleting negative feedback gives us a chance to convert that customer into a advocate of our brand \u2013 and that is worth the effort of engaging with customers and working hard to resolve service issues\u201d.<\/em> <\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat<\/b>\u2019s a good social media strategy for a small business, who are starting out?<\/b>\u201d.<\/b>\u00a0 The view was that \u201cthere\u2019s no benchmark or thumb rule\u201d.\u00a0 The key would be to think long and hard before committing to social media because it\u2019s a high effort channel \u2013 even if its relatively low cost as compared to other ATL channels.\u00a0 Face book is the one channel worth using from an engagement perspective \u2013 others such as You Tube \/ Twitter are a function of how much capacity the business can commit to managing the channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you stay relevant in social media?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTailor your medium to your customer<\/b>\u201d <\/b>\u2013 <\/b>was Seema\u2019s view.\u00a0 Many of the 15 to 20 year olds prefer FB to twitter so we follow suite. <\/b><\/p>\n

– \u201cKeep your team young!\u201d –\u00a0 was Abhishek\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n

How do you measure ROI?<\/b> Most of the panelists felt that social media isn\u2019t mature enough to measure ROI using sales related metrics \u2013 most of them use engagement metrics. One dimension of this \u2013 on FB \u2013 \u201cMeasure the number of people \u2018talking about\u2019 you and not the number of \u2018likes\u2019 \u2013 said Ajay.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, it is possible to buy likes\u201d \u2013 chimed in Deepshika and Seema.<\/p>\n

In summary \u2013 \u201cBe consistent and honest while being social with your customer<\/b>\u201d:<\/b>\u00a0 was moderator\u2019s Ajay\u2019s Aggarwal\u2019s session summary \u201cOn Being Social\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n