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I was quoted today in Indian daily The Hindu in a story on how social media can be useful for small and medium IT businesses.

Social media is especially useful for IT SMEs as their customers, partners and employees are likely to be early adopters of social media tools. My recommendation is that IT SMEs should use social media first to listen to conversations in their industry, then to participate in those conversations and finaly to build thought leadership in their industry. Given the natures of most IT SMEs, even ten new business relationships established via social media can be critical.

Here is the full text of the story –

Small and medium IT firms reap benefits of online networking sites

Sruthi Krishnan

“There is a culture today that respects an online connection”

CHENNAI: While looking up the profile of a prospective client on LinkedIn, a business networking site, the salesperson of a small and medium IT firm found that he had a Twitter account. The salesperson followed the client on Twitter, an online messaging service, and messaged him about the company. On a working day, in 15 minutes, the salesperson got a response: “Get back in touch with me.”

“There is a culture today that respects an online connection,” says Narasimhan Mandyam, CEO, PK4 Software, a Bangalore-based firm that deals with on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) solutions, narrating this incident. One way small and medium (SME) IT companies can benefit from this culture is to get into the social media space for marketing. Given the current economic scene, the online space is a cheaper marketing option. But despite the cost advantage, there is a debate on whether to latch on to the social media bandwagon or not.
Understanding lacking

Many SME IT firms do not have a clear understanding of what online marketing is, says Mr. Mandyam. “We believe in an equation – pay X amount of money for an advertisement and get Y returns. But, the value of a discussion in blogs, online forums, or Twitter has to be understood in a larger context.”

Marketing on social media is different from traditional media as it follows a “pull model rather than a push model,” says Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO, Orangescape, a software product firm. Rather than selling your company, you share ideas and knowledge, and people come to you if they find the information useful. This, in turn, benefits the company.

To see these benefits, you have to cultivate relationships. There is value in looking beyond your work, and providing thought leadership in your area of work, says Gaurav Mishra, CEO and Founder, 20:20 Web Tech, a social media research and analytics firm. “When you form a readership in that area, you can make connections with more people.” For a small services company, to be able to build relationships with 10 potential customers is huge, he adds.

Being honest about what you and your company stand for is important, says Mr. Mandyam. “You cannot create an image that is not you or your company.” This is something which many SME IT firms have difficulty understanding.

If companies are apprehensive about the uncontrolled flow of information, they could have guidelines for social media in place, says Arvind Muthukrishnan, manager-business development, UST Global, an IT services firm, who is also a social media consultant. It is also important not to spread negative information about your competitors; it could backfire. But, for SME IT companies, rather than controlling information, a better strategy would be to evolve an open culture, says Mr. Mandyam, tying it back to his stress on the need for honesty online.

Marketing through social media is measurable, says Mr. Muthukrishnan. There are a variety of tools and metrics. But, to use these metrics, companies need to define first, what their objective is.
Word of caution

There are some notes of caution too. “If people are not responding, there is a problem,” says Mr. Mishra. More importantly, you need to listen to what others are saying about you. These platforms provide a tool to listen, probably much more than tools to talk, he says.

Related posts:

1. The Hindu Story on Crowdsourcing
2. Live Mint Story on Indian Brands Embracing Social Media
3. Financial Chronicle Story on Social Media and Consumer Behavior
4. Yours Truly Quoted in Story on Social Media Marketing in India in the Online Magazine of IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India)
5. Why Are Social Media Consultants in Denial About Social Media Outsourcing?