On the first Saturday of every month, few Social Media enthusiasts from Chennai unite together to bring exclusive session on Social Media to the Chennai city. On the 3rd session we had ex Google employees who rocked the show with their search and social media talents. Mrs. Priya Ramakrishnan (Content Head and Technical Writer at CMO Axis) was also the part of successful show, she took the opportunity to contribute as guest blogger on the take aways from the session.

From Mrs. Priya Ramakrishnan:

I was drawn to the Social Media Club Chennai when I read a presentation made by Mr.Sukumar Rajagopalan, Senior Vice President, Cognizant Technologies. A new entrant to Social Media, the web taught me enough and with browsing , sharing and applying some of the principles of Social Media, I considered myself an “SM specialist” – until I heard Jayshree Ramasubramian (Web Marketing Manager, Intuit) and Bharath Moro (ehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifx-Googler and Visiting Faculty at Symbiosis Pune). I came back realizing how little I knew and what companies jumping into the Social Media bandwagon should be wary of. The speakers being ex-googlers have a head start in this field – they are able to analyze data and draw conclusions with much greater authority and clarity than any of us would ever be able to.

I have tried to capture some of the things that were said. Some of the pointers from Jayshree were from Intuit’s Social Media Marketing perspective which I think are simple yet very important:

• Companies should give their employees “External Communication Training” which would include “what to say about your brand in Social Media” & “what not to say about your brand”– How very crucial for companies foraying into Social Media.
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• What not to say would probably include
Company Strategy
“New to market”
Revenue of the company
Details of New Business Acquisition

Do not try to hard sell on Social Media – Social Media Marketing should focus on retaining the old and acquiring new customers.

Jayashree said Live Communities are very important and they provide for organic growth and the inner circle involvement. Jayshree also mentioned that Aspirational Value would bring in more involvement and also that emotional relevance played a key role as well. She also insisted on keeping the ‘humanization’ aspect as top priority of your Social Media activities is crucial as Social Media is not about selling products but about engaging with people and creating relationship.

Bharath Moro pointed out that the Number, Adjective and Trend is one way to write content to attract people to read. He also gave us an insight into the work culture at Google, which was also reflected in the speaker’s depth of knowledge, attitude and above all the humility that comes with knowledge. Thank you Sorav and the Social Media Club Chennai team for organizing these unique events.

Thank You Priya for your kind words and the blog post – Sorav