Sales pitch opens an all-new frontier — social media

When cosmetics major Maybelline recently launched its BB cream, it was on its Facebook fan page that has 671, 313 ‘likes’ where the brand announced the product.

The brand used digital media alone to amplify the campaign and drive sales of the cream. This year, the company is dedicating as much as 35% of its advertising budget on digital media. Cola major PepsiCo, too, is looking to launch a product exclusively on digital media before launching its television or print campaign.

Last week, when skin care company L’Oreal decided to come out with a product for blackheads under brand Garnier Pure Active, it relied completely on digital media, making use of Facebook, Twitter and through ads on websites — where it finds most of its target customers.

There is a distinct trend here. From failed consumer brands, most loved ones to automobile launches, an increasing number of companies are making a beeline for digital and social media sites to get a first-hand consumer reaction to their launches.

Though companies have not evangelised the medium perfectly as yet, this new form of campaigning is gradually gaining currency and becoming a mandate for current brand managers. “It is a media that cannot be avoided anymore. We didn’t use it earlier, but looking at the way things are shaping up and the way consumption of the medium is, it makes sense for companies like us to use social media to reach where our consumers are,” said Mayank Shah, group product manager, Parle Products, which makes Parle-G and Hide & Seek biscuits.

Parle started focusing on the medium only 6 months ago with a dedicated team in place. From a spend of 1.5-2% of its ad budgets on the digital mode, Shah expects it to go up to between 7-8% of the budget in the next five years. “Currently, there are two kinds of companies - one that are latching on to the social media and the other that have not started yet; they probably think it is too small to notice. Even among the companies that are utilising the medium, some are doing so very effectively and others like us who don’t want to miss the opportunity,” Shah said.

Country’s largest consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever is another company that is driving its brands Kwality Walls, Axe, and Dove heavily through social media sites. Similarly, Cadbury India is hooked to Twitter to grow awareness of its premium chocolate product Bournville.

So, there is a new-found urgency on the part of companies to engage with consumers through Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts and LinkedIn company pages, among others. Now, if consumers cry hoarse about a certain product or service, the brands are quick enough to rush with a “may I help resolve your problem” approach. In fact, it is a case of concern and curiosity if a brand does not exist on social media.

According to the latest report prepared by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), advertisers have pumped in a total of Rs80 crore on social media campaigns in the fiscal 2010-11, which surged to `94 crore in the last fiscal. As of March 2012, the total advertising spends, including classifieds, was valued at Rs2,850 crore, of which only 3% was on social media ads. It is expected that by the end of the current fiscal, the digital advertisement spends would touch Rs4,391 crore mark. On an average, the ad spends have been growing at 25% on a year-on-year basis.

“Companies who have evolved themselves in the space are already using it to the maximum before other people catch up. Last year has been all about companies exploring the medium. This year, they know the medium and are ready to have some fun,” said Pratik Gupta, director, new business and alliances at digital agency FoxyMoron. Gupta’s four-year old firm has been working with numerous consumer companies like Maybelline and Garnier that are keen to spend more on the digital paltform.

Gupta said social media has given a sudden opportunity to small brands and businesses to grow and compete with the big names at same rates. As a result, newer restaurants, e-commerce websites and even ice-cream parlours are quickly able to build awareness using social media sites.

Companies are hungry to grow their following on Facebook and Twitter and interestingly, most campaigns are now integrating social media within them, often prompting consumers to go to the company website or Facebook page to participate in a contest.

“Nobody wants to miss the bus. That’s the mindset,” Shah of Parle said. “Earlier we did 8-10 meetings to make a brand understand why the medium was important to them. Today, they come and tell us they want to go on Facebook,” Gupta of FoxyMoron aptly summed up.