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Politics Online: Using The Internet is Not the Obama Way of Marketing

Here is some real world advice for politicians trying to tap into the Youth base by going online. At the outset I would like dispel the notion that the youth is only an online being without any life out of it. So the first step for you take is synchronize your offline and online campaign to mean and say the same things, else you will get royal beating ver 2.0 both on the web and beyond.

However, cunning that you all are you might probably know the above point beforehand. However, there is another notion that needs to dispelled before you make a mockery of the whole system. The notion is that having a website and/or a blog online with profiles on all the major social networking site isn’t using the web the Obama way. Case in point - Even John McCain had all these with him. In fact any Tommy can have one. If you think the youth is going to consider you tech savvy because some web design company made a website with your photographs and accomplishments then you are sadly mistaken.

The fact remains that Obama didn’t win because he used the web to drive voters. Obama won because he drove a new wave of hope and action and everything that the average American voters sought in their leader. His online campaign didn’t just work because his speeches were on YouTube or because his Facebook page grossed the highest number of fans ever or because he was on Twitter. You see the online world is a reflection of and not distinct from the offline one. His campaign worked online because it is what people were looking for offline. The digital medium just helped get the word across faster and cheaper and with more authority.

So if you want to use the Internet you needn’t spend a dime on an adword copy or a banner or even put your TV campaign video on YouTube. You do the right thing by presenting the proper leadership and putting a proper plan for the country and believe me your online campaign will be taken care of by the same people whose votes you seek.

People will tweet about you if you say the things that they want or don’t want to hear from you. They will re-tweet if you say the things they would have wanted to say. People will blog about you if you sow an idea of a country that you envision, the idea will take roots as a million trees on the web with every blogger expressing their vision of the idea. People will capture your speeches and load it online if you open their eyes to the country you see in the future. They will make fan pages of yours and invite others if you do and act as a role model should.

The Obama way of using the web was not about money or content, but it was about being an inspiration and that’s why it worked. Nothing spreads like inspiration on the web. So if you are a poltico then all you need to do to use the web effectively is just be a good leader. That’s the winning online strategy.

Read this post on WATBlog on some poll related initiatives online.

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@box Takes Internet Beyond The PC

iChip has launched a low cost, small Internet access device called '@box' through which one can access internet on any existing display devices (TV, PC monitor, etc). The product is developed by iChip and will now be available through the BSNL broadband service network to users.

iChip would be supplying over 5 lakh such devices to BSNL over the year 2009-10. This clearly illustrates BSNL’s plans of taking this box and making it the first internet access point for those still not owning a computer.

The @box provides all the Internet functionalities and is enabled by a keyboard and a trackball as a user interface device to make sure the browsing experience isn’t compromised.

The pricing of the device is pegged at Rs 2,500 while technical trials for the same has already been completed.

iChip the company behind the product has invested up to $3 million in the R&D for development of the product and is looking to generate $80-90 million revenues in 2009-10.

The success of such a product depends on the usability. If its too complicated to setup the product and plug it in and out of your TV screen then the adoption might be limited. Also the real question is whether people would want to surf internet on TV or keep a TV separate from the computer?

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IIITians Working on Open Source Language Translation Tools

Come June 2009 and Sampark an open source web based translation tool would be launched. The beta version of this tool allows users to get their documents translated to Hindi from seven Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Punjabi and Marathi.

The development of this tool is been done across 9 tech institutes including the IIT’s and its led by IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology). The programme is funded by the Union Ministry of Information Technology.

The institute is also working on an open source translation programme called Anusaaraka, which allows translation of English texts into Hindi.

The importance of translation tools for online content

Its been often repeated that internet in India needs to grow beyond the metro’s to the towns and villages but for that to happen Internet as a medium needs to be useful and fit for consumption for such areas. Such kind of translation tools make that possible especially as their focus is hindi which is the single largest spoken and understood language in the country.

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How a Jewellery Store Can Use Social Media to Promote Their Brand

When it comes to social media it can be broken down into a very simple idea - be part of conversations. The whole premise is that people now have an avenue to talk in masses among masses, and brands can either participate or stay away, they can’t dictate terms. Staying away is not an option because that’s suicidal so the only option really is to participate.

With this post and with a jewellery brand (no particular brand) as an example I attempt to illustrate the whole notion of participation. So here come 5 ways in which a jewelery brand can use social media in their promotional mix.

1. Find out bloggers and tweeple around your brand store (use social media for this) and email or tweet to them when you invite your celebrity ambassador to your shop (like an store inauguration, or some festival), unless you have some really sorry character as your brand star of course. Having a beautiful celeb around your area is good for some online buzz. You can even upload their snap to flickr or twitpic for it to grab some social attention. Tag the image well.

2. Have an online jewellery design contest. If your target is youth, the college crowd then have them design the kind of design they love to see. Have a community on Facebook where the participants could interact and showcase designs. Give the winners some coverage and of course have prize. You have just used social media not just for branding but also for market research and feedback as well, not to mention a collection of designs.

3. What if your target is not the young crowd? Pick a day say Mother’s day and ask the young women and men of social media to design a necklace for their mother, and the winner gets his/her design made free.

4. Ok is there anything other than contests? Yes sort of. Start a group on Facebook or Orkut - I forget my wife’s anniversary. You give a platform for people to come and talk about instances and what they did etc. You just need to start the group, invite people and moderate it. Your branding is taken care of, the conversations are bound to involve you somewhere and the next time people think of gifting something for someone’s anniversary you are bound to cross their mind.

5. Now this is a tricky one, and something I have no idea of how it might pan out. Have a fake robbery attempt video made somehow, should seem as real as possible, not a polished ad that you might put on Star TV. Have ingredients in the video that will add unexpected dimensions like a really scared shouting store manager or a laughing salesman, stuff that trigger conversations and thereby sharing. Put this Video on Youtube with the title - Fake Robbery Attempt at My My Jewellery. Go viral.

There we are, 5 ways of promoting your brand through social media. Now social media has a personality quite different from others. Which means now that I mentioned these suggestions they might never work or they might even scale up a notch, you can never be sure, for you can never be sure where a conversation is headed. To that extent there can be methods of promotion a 100 times better than the ones above because the scope and scale of any social media campaign is limitless.

I hope this post gives people a better idea on how to approach a task of using social media for promotion better. If you found this interesting or worth a read then share it with others. If you feel I got the whole point of social media wrong then throw the bricks in the comments section.

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