Small and Medium IT Companies reap benefits of online Networking Sites

While looking up the profile of a prospective client on LinkedIn, a business networking site, the salesperson of a small and medium IT firm found that he had a Twitter account. The salesperson followed the client on Twitter, an online messaging service, and messaged him about the company. On a working day, in 15 minutes, the salesperson got a response: “Get back in touch with me.”

“There is a culture today that respects an online connection,” says Narasimhan Mandyam, CEO, PK4 Software, a Bangalore-based firm that deals with on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) solutions, narrating this incident.

One way small and medium (SME) IT companies can benefit from this culture is to get into the social media space for marketing. Given the current economic scene, the online space is a cheaper marketing option. But despite the cost advantage, there is a debate on whether to latch on to the social media bandwagon or not.

Understanding lacking

Many SME IT firms do not have a clear understanding of what online marketing is, says Mr. Mandyam. “We believe in an equation – pay X amount of money for an advertisement and get Y returns. But, the value of a discussion in blogs, online forums, or Twitter has to be understood in a larger context.”

Marketing on social media is different from traditional media as it follows a “pull model rather than a push model,” says Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO, Orangescape, a software product firm. Rather than selling your company, you share ideas and knowledge, and people come to you if they find the information useful. This, in turn, benefits the company.

To see these benefits, you have to cultivate relationships. There is value in looking beyond your work, and providing thought leadership in your area of work, says Gaurav Mishra, CEO and Founder, 20:20 Web Tech, a social media research and analytics firm. “When you form a readership in that area, you can make connections with more people.” For a small services company, to be able to build relationships with 10 potential customers is huge, he adds.

Honesty pays

Being honest about what you and your company stand for is important, says Mr. Mandyam. “You cannot create an image that is not you or your company.” This is something which many SME IT firms have difficulty understanding.

If companies are apprehensive about the uncontrolled flow of information, they could have guidelines for social media in place, says Arvind Muthukrishnan, manager-business development, UST Global, an IT services firm, who is also a social media consultant. It is also important not to spread negative information about your competitors; it could backfire.

But, for SME IT companies, rather than controlling information, a better strategy would be to evolve an open culture, says Mr. Mandyam, tying it back to his stress on the need for honesty online.

Marketing through social media is measurable, says Mr. Muthukrishnan.

There are a variety of tools and metrics. But, to use these metrics, companies need to define first, what their objective is.

article source: http://www.hindu.com