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Delhi (Jul 22nd, 2010):
In this interview with exchange4media’s Ashish Pratap Singh, Chopra speaks at length about Social Media Marketing, gainfully tapping platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and the growth of Digital Vidya over the years.
Q.
How has the journey been for digitalvidya.com since its inception?
A.
My partner and I have been users of digital marketing for more than 10 years, and we used digital marketing for our business in 2000. We were amongst the first people to use it to create a global brand. What we figured out was that the real challenge for this industry was right talent, given the rate at which this industry moves and that there is no formal education one can get in this sphere. With a few exceptions, there are no B-Schools that teach digital marketing. The plus point is that it has a very low entry barrier. It is extremely information based. Thus, we realised that this industry would grow based on the number of people who understood it. This is how Digital Vidya came into existence. We started thinking about it in late 2009 and started with the first workshop on Social Media Marketing in January 2010. The journey has been wonderful as we have, since then, conducted more than 15 workshops and have had more than 500 participants. What we want to gun for is to have more and more marketers understand this medium, because they are the ones who will be driving the campaign. This is mainly because within digital marketing, Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the hottest topic, but also the least understood.
Q.
Under digital marketing, is it only Social Media Marketing that you are addressing, or are there other topics too?
A.
For our public workshops, we are only dealing with SMM. However, in September 2010, we are planning to launch a new topic called Social Search Optimisation, which is a convergence of SMM and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). The idea is that once we have conducted 10-15 workshops on one topic, we move on to another. But when we do corporate workshops, we do it based on their requirements. For example, we are doing a workshop on online reputation management. We have done a workshop on search engine optimisation for a brand activation agency. We do design trainings based on the company’s special requirements.
Q.
Social Media Marketing as a marketing tool is yet to reach its full potential in India. How are the Indian trainees reacting to these workshops? Who are your typical trainees who sign up for the bootcamps?
A.
Largely, these have been the conventional marketers or CXOs of small to mid-sized companies, entrepreneurs and digital marketing professionals. We have participants from ad agencies as well, like the creative directors. Social Media is all about reaching out to your target audience that is on social media platforms. It doesn’t make sense for companies who don’t have their target audience in the digital world to get into this. Having said that, for most of the brands, other than the ones that are rural and semi-rural in nature, some sort of a word is going around online. Facebook itself has more than 1.2 crore Indian users and the number is just growing.
Q.
Other than the bootcamps, what the revenue sources for Digital Vidya? Do you also provide SMM consultation to your clients?
A.
Other than the public workshops as well as the corporate ones, there is no other revenue stream for Digital Vidya. We are only into education.
Q.
How do you market your bootcamps and reach your target audience? What are the various media formats that you advertise on? What is the company’s advertising budget?
A.
Since we teach Social Media Marketing, it is our primary tool for reaching out to our audience. There is no point of us not using it and then sharing it with the audience. Another key means to reach our target group is word of mouth. Participants, who already have been a part of our previous bootcamps, always have great things to say about them. We also tie up with media partners like exchange4media. They are the ones who create the buzz and we are able to reach out to the correct audience. We have also tried mobile messaging, but on a very small scale. Since we do not advertise, so we do not have a budget. The real expense on marketing is time in terms of man-hours.
Q.
With social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter always evolving with new features and offerings, do your bootcamps also evolve in order to absorb the changes that Facebook or Twitter make? What are the latest additions to the bootcamps in terms of content?
A.
Best way to know the new features that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter come up with is by using it regularly. Since we use these platforms ourselves extensively, we are aware of the changes. Therefore, the content of our bootcamps get updated for every workshop. We have a process in place to take care of it. Other than that, we have a very strong team to look into it. We also make live all the feedback by the participants. And we are constantly in touch with them to tell us the areas where we can improve.
Q.
What are your revenue targets for 2010? How has the performance till now in terms of targets?
A.
For this financial year, we are looking at reaching $1 million in terms of revenue. The first quarter has been largely about validating vertically our curriculum and course content. We’ve had very good success in that. One thing that came out was that a whole lot of corporates are interested in this training. When we started out, corporate workshops were not our focus. This is definitely our focus in the areas going forward. Another change that is on the horizon is that we are going international. In October 2010, we will be conducting our first overseas workshop in either Singapore or Malaysia. Thirdly, we are looking at conducting these workshops online. We have done a couple of webinars on social media. We didn’t promote, but just launched it on Linked In. More than 30 people signed up for the first one and about 50 for the second. It will have the distinct advantage of reaching out to a global audience.
Q.
Other than Social Media Marketing bootcamps, is there any other type of bootcamp that Digital Vidya plans to venture into? Are there any other certifications or trainings that you are planning to venture into?
A.
We are planning to have not one-off workshops for our corporate clients, but a series of them. For example, we did an SMM bootcamp for an advertising agency. They had the entire team from three different locations attend the bootcamp. Therefore, the corporates want to do these trainings to a depth that if they were to add it to their portfolio as one of their areas of expertise, they can. They can either add it as a service to their customers or do it in-house. We do give out certificates to each of our participants at each workshop. Having said that, I must add that these are not career-oriented.
Q.
Could you tell us about any promotional activities that you may have conducted in order to get a greater turnout for your bootcamps?
A.
We have a 3,000-member community on Facebook which is very active. That is a platform where we share case studies, success stories and insights about digital marketing. We have many of these community members who sign up for our bootcamps. Then we have tools like Linkedin. My personal linkedin profile has many marketing personnel and CXOs as members. Another strong tool is Twitter. Every time we have an upcoming event, we tweet about it and we get a lot of participation for future bootcamps. Other than these channels, I also write and reach out. I have regularly started writing for the Wall Street Journal and that gives us a lot of visibility.
Q.
How do you view Social Media as a platform for enhancing a business’ reach and productivity? What, according to you, are the roadblocks and advantages of Social Media Marketing in India?
A.
Social Media can be used for a number of things such as brand promotion, online branding, etc. It is a great tool for online reputation management. For example, a while ago I had an issue with a bank. Even after visiting its branch repeatedly, the issue was not getting resolved. Therefore, I decided to tweet about this personal experience on Twitter. Within an hour, I got a call from their personal relations head apologising about the experience that I had and promising that the issue would be resolved in a day. And sure enough it was. My bank is a great example of how companies listen to anything that involves their brand name. Why it is more relevant now is that for a public company, there is a direct relation between their success and what is being said about their brand on the street. It makes all the sense for them to use SMM tools to know what is being said about them. One of the major roadblocks in the Indian context is that many still treat digital marketing as a technology function. This is more so in Social Media. SEO still has some aspects that are technical in nature. Building a community to strengthen a relationship is all about getting to know your customer. SMM and SEO are vehicles to reach your target audience, but unless you know your customer and where they are, these tools will not work.
Q.
Why do you think Orkut failed and Facebook succeeded?
A.
Initially, the main driver for Facebook was applications. It thrived upon these applications, drawing members from practically all walks of life. Secondly, it is the user interface, which includes presentations. Unfortunately, Orkut realised these things much after Facebook did and by then, many Orkut users had already switched to Facebook. Their quality of applications is also much lower than that of Facebook’s. The main driver for Facebook now is advertising. This is great from the advertisers’ perspective, because for anyone who opens an account on Facebook, it knows your demographics, likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. This is all the information that you yourself feed in. So, the targeting of advertising on Facebook in unmatchable.
Q.
Typically, what are the types of companies that are using SMM as a tool to reach their target audience? What is their percentage average spends on this medium from the whole marketing budget? By what rate do you think it will grow in the future?
A.
Almost every kind of company uses SMM nowadays. FMCGs are heavily using it for promotion and online reputation. The education and finance industries are also heavily using it. Advertising agencies and, of course, IT companies are using it too. In the automobiles industry, General Motors is a classic example. There have been no statistics around what these companies spend typically on SMM. However, more than the money spent, it is the man hours, which is the real expense. Other than that, there are not many opportunities for media houses to spend. Facebook has advertising, and now, Twitter has it too. Its future is brilliant in terms of direct money on Facebook advertising. Therefore, media buying is going to grow. It is due to more and more people being present on Social Media. It is not only accessible through PC or laptop, but now mobile phones, too, have Facebook. Therefore, it makes all the sense for advertisers to concentrate on this medium.
Q.
How does SMM plan to target the 20 million group of people in India who use Social Media platforms on only their mobile phones?
A.
Some of the trends that are coming up include location-based advertising. These services make a lot of sense when accessed through mobiles. A lot of things will happen, such as social shopping. From that perspective, the mobile world will see a lot of advances. A whole lot of services that are locational in nature, like digital coupons, will see huge growth in the near future.
Q.
Who are your competitors and what are the salient features of your bootcamps that set them apart from your competition?
A.
NIIT is one of our direct competitors. At the same time, there are some freelancers who are doing Social Media/ Digital Marketing Trainings. However, for most of them, organising these trainings is a foot in the door to get consulting/ implementation assignments. The most salient feature of our bootcamps is hands-on experience as we organise Facebook community building competition during the workshops. We also use relevant and useful case studies and are led by thought leaders who have more than 10 years of experience in this line.
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