Be a Digital-Celebrity!

As the url of this blog - 'Are you a brand' suggests - it's all about creating a niche for yourself, whether in the real world or the digital world. Creating a brand out of oneself is a long term proposition which requires a carefully thought out plan and its meticulous implementation. A Digital Celebrity in the virtual space is same as a brand in the real world.

How to be a Digital Celebrity or How to create Brand 'You'?

Owning your share of real estate in the virtual world is the first step towards achieving the stardom. Be there on Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and what-have-you and let people know about your presence. The logic is simple - Be visible. These destinations help you create your own circle of influence, which might create the ripple effect, if used judiciously.

In the Digital space, everything is public, be sure what content you are putting up on various social media platforms. Every picture that you upload on flickr or every video that you share on Youtube tells a million things about you. Be careful!

Engage yourself with various communities. Be active and contribute constructively. Let people get exposed to your way of thinking.

As the rule says - Low risk, Low return - High risk, High return. Do not hesitate in voicing your opinion in public forums and on socially (or otherwise) relevant issues.

Last but not least, own a domain name (www.yourname.com), if possible.

When Social Media turned pink...

A lot has been written/talked about the 'Pink Chaddi Campaign' which was launched in India by a group of youngsters against the anti-valentines day forces. The campaign got tremendous support and momentum primarily because of the reach of various social media platforms. Such was the impact of the information disseminated through various social media avenues that a large number of people actually sent 'Pink Chaddis' to the Sree Ram Sena office, thereby helping the objective of the campaign.

I have put together some info about how social media amplified the impact of the campaign and made it hugely successful. Enjoy

The Earned Media

You don't need to be an advertising expert to deliver result worth Rs.10 after spending the same amount. The challenge is to earn that extra bit which adds to the final effectiveness equation. The clients' money can be used either to buy media or create 'owned' media. However, an effective advertising campaign generates 'Earned Media' or in simplistic terms 'Word-of-mouth' which differs it from other vanilla campaigns.

Putting it mathematically,

Earned Media = K x (Bought Media + Owned Media)

However, it is necessary to keep in mind that this word of mouth or Earned Media doesn't come for free. The initial push required to create that talk value needs money to be spent judiciously. The best example of Earned Media that I have ever seen is the all time bollywood classic 'Sholay'. The movie made using a lavish budget of Rs.2crore (in 1975) was trashed by the critics as soon as it hit the theaters. In fact, it was labeled as 'Choley'. What led to this movie becoming one of the all-time grosser was a strong word-of-mouth. Thirty Three years down, Sholay has already earned more than Rs.400crore (adjusted to inflation).

The foundation of any advertising campaign is a media neutral branding idea which cuts across any given medium. A good branding idea generates a good amount of word-of-mouth. In fact, this could be used as a yard stick to gauge the effectiveness of the branding idea. However, quantifying word-of-mouth is still a long shot.