Free SMS for Gmail users isn't a great idea

Google has just announced free SMS for free and paid Gmail users. The users will be given 50 credits. Each credit allows the user to send a SMS and for every reply 5 credits are added. The total credit would never cross 50.

Not officially confirmed but Google has launched this service in association with 2 tier cellular operators in the country like Idea, Reliance, TATA etc. While Airtel, MTNL, Vodafone are not yet available. The SMS sent out would get directly received on the mobile handset, however SMS received would land on the Gmail chat window. Which means you got to be always hooked to your Gmail account.

It is a good move by Google to increase the time spent by average user on Gmail. However, I think Gmail hasn't got their strategy right with this one. Let me explain. The biggest revenue model on which Google strive is Ads and the users of such a SMS service would be people with lower purchasing power like collegiate etc (who can't even afford regular mobile recharges). Now even if ads are shown to such people, the CTR (click through ration on ads) would be extremely low or wrongly targeted (income wise) even if the Ads are contextually right. For ex - An ad gets delivered to two friends discussing latest songs that they downloaded on their smartphone. The ad server will pick 2 keyword songs and smartphone and then throw ad related paid songs download website or latest smartphone ads. Now, these ads are contextually right and people might click on it as well but in terms on pocket size (affordability)  they are wrongly targeted and not enough conversions would happen. Hence, brands would not get returns on their ad investments at such places.

Above is just a thought, results might be different from what I think. What do you say?

 

Well made social campaigns, a threat to social media platforms?

Have attended lot of social media workshops.
2 intersting sessions were with Mr. Pradeep chopra (@mydigitalvidya) and Mr. David Meerman Scott (@dmscott).

The speakers have different ideas about social media but 1 things is common - a good idea coupled with right release time becomes viral of its own. Therefore no real need of advertising on internet.

So i had 2 thoughts... These are just thought and i am not trying to be judgement on the content of any of the sessions I attended.... So please read it as thoughts only.

Firstly can a new brand build business only on social media. Can social media help brands to control the pace of awareness as per business plans  and match competition moves?

Secondly, I also started imagining a world where the awareness about social media management/planning is 100% and marketeers now can plant viral campaigns at will. A world of no ads!!!! A world of creativit... Everthing is free for brands.... From prospective customers to the platform on which they are posted like facebook/youtube or even twitter.

This is an amazing world... But I wonder how will free social platforms sustain without ads. Would they be able to provide continous advancement that would help peolle and brands communicate better? Or, will they focus on value adds like telecom players do? But what kind of value adds on a platform which have been using for free all these years. Not sure...

If I take twitter's example whose content is largely driven from celebs, i notice that brands pay celebs to promote their product subtly and reach out million fans (celeb's) instantly. In the bargain the platform doesnt get anything...?

Well made social campaigns a threat to social media platforms? How true is that?

A signing off thought... So I keep hearing examples of good social media executions in workshops. To me those are just ideas and as David said they die in a bell curve. Then, How to define a long term social media strategy for a  brand? Is observe and react the only answer? If yes, brands would never be in control of what they are trying to say - A benifit statement for their customers...may be.

Would be intersting to know how you think?

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Why Facebook killed Orkut

Both Facebook and Orkut are social media platforms but one of them became a rage and the later died.

People gave various reasons for Orkut's failure like poor design, lack of applications, no offerings for brands etc etc. But are these really true? I dont think so.

Facebook became big because they identified a big consumer behaviour very early and that was "explore and share". It is in the human nature to find/explore things and share it with near and dears. They also share because they want themselves to be seen by their friends and peer in a certain way that reflects their personality.

While version 1 of social network included finding and conversing with friends etc. This was the Orkut way. Version 2 gave more reasons to consumer to interact. Orkut failed here and was majorly was used to find lost friends and there was only so much that one could interact using 'scraps'. It was seen as a replacement to email. Personal message became public... People then started shying away from such a open platform.

Then came facebook.com. Same features but private. Social but interactive and advocated sharing in a big way... Sharing beyond personal lives... Sharing that reflect personality.

Soon fb became viral...and part of everyones life.

How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform?

Blogging is like having some sort of journal or diary online. You tell the entire world about anything you want to talk about. It can be opinions, a short video, an article or maybe promoting your products.

There are three blogging platforms to choose from:

Guest Bloggers are easily found

Guest  blogging brings in richness to the blog and helps to refresh the content quickly. Finding a guest bloggers who can really contribute to your blog is easy to find.


1. Use Google blog search and find any blog of your genre. Look at the comment section and you would notice few people who would constantly interact with the posts and comment a lot. These are people who are interested in the content that you publish and can be approached for guest blogging.


2. You can use point no.1 on your own website and reach guest bloggers.


3. Post a request to "guest blog" on your blog homepage, forums and blogroll.


4. Exploit personal Facebook friend list and invite them to blog. Free and easy to do.


5. Explore bloggers sites such as bloggerlinkup.com. Such sites deal with blogs and can help you acquire bloggers.

Minus One project - Simple yet effective

Today, I received a request for Facebook Picbadge "Minus One Project". Obviously, I ignored it initially thinking that it was one of those stupid brand campaigns that keep troubling.
Few minutes later, I received another request for the same Pic badge. This time I got curious and clicked on the link and instantly got involved in a simple idea to save nature.
All one needs to do is to reduce the font size by one before hitting the print button to save paper. WOW... Simple yet effective.

All of us talk big when it comes to saving nature and practically do nothing. I don't blame them due to their hectic schedule and chase for better lives. But I think anyone can show their concern by simply sitting office and  get cautious while taking printouts.

Show your support by liking - http://www.facebook.com/minusoneproject
Sport a badge on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/minusoneproject?sk=app_134506053246185

Well done Cheil India.