Social Networks matters - IT companies
By Renjith VP, SiliconIndia   |   Friday, 08 October 2010, 10:26 IST   |    7 Comments
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Social Networks matters - IT companies
Bangalore: 109,922 'likes' for HP's Facebook account, 22,291 followers and 1,370 tweets for Oracle at Twitter, 2094 tweets for Infosys technologies, an army of 2,500 tweeting employees to reach out to customers online built at Best Buy, more than 1000 companies signed in for LinkedIn - enterprise IT is breaking free on social networking platforms and the aim - ultimate brand value. Social networking, darling of Web 2.0, is turning out to be a marketing tool than a communication platform. Recognizing the immense potential of social networks as a tool for branding, IT companies follow suit of FMCGs and are 'networking' their way to advertise products and services. Apart from cajoling customers to by their products with proliferating online presence, IT companies also use social networks for hiring employees. IBM is among the first companies to identify the popularity of social networks in the consumer online world. Apart for doing campaigns on Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, they have come up with IBM Lotus Connections, a social computing software for business that empowers people to be more innovative. Social networks have started penetrating enterprises and are making significant changes in the business world. The fact that both corporates and employees use technologies such as forums, blogs, Facebook, wikis, YouTube and personal profiles to help streamline team collaboration and enhance quality of communication with consumers has motivated IT companies to try out both internal branding as well as external branding. Accenture is another big player who is planning to effectively harness the marketing possibilities of social networks. In a report given out by the company named 'Social Networks: enabling the market of me', they elucidate the detailed demographic patterns that can be derived from social networks which will serve as a potential consumer database. HCL after it's much publicized TV ad campaign with the investment banker and software engineer have now extended that brand campaign online and created viral based on the Deewar Theme which portrays them as an extremely hi-tech company and managed 5300 hits. Oracle has been also trying to bring in their brand tag in LinkedIn, Twitter and through blogs which provide info on their new fusion apps. Indian IT enterprises, though much lately are accepting the importance of branding and the role social networks play in it. Currently, investments in branding initiatives are less than one per cent of their revenue budgets though companies like Wipro, TCS and Infosys are planning to double it in the future, investing much in social networks. One of the recent uploads in YouTube spots Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys CEO and MD, discussing the WEF Annual Meeting 2010 theme. It also provides options for the viewers to virtually participate in the discussion. Call it Enterprise Social Networking or Viral Marketing or below the line advertising IT companies are on the roll to be on 'top of the mind'.

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