Google Engage Partners Meet Up in New Delhi

This was the first Google Engage meetup I attended. It was held on November, 8th, 2012 at Hotel Hyatt, New Delhi. I had ignored earlier ones, thinking them to be training usually provided to the beginners.

However, this proved to be a Good one and the depth they went into were above my expectations. The greatest lure for attending it was the training for newly introduced features of Display Advertising. I am glad I attended this training.

Trainer seemed to be well versed in what she was teaching and she walked the talk by demonstrating everything on Adwords interface. Very beneficial for all who attended.

Display advertising is changing everyday and so it was a timely initiative by google to get all its partners on the learning curve who otherwise would depend on their own experience and some guesses work. Important parts of the training were adwords learning module and practical problem solving and brainstorming in group.

Mostly SEO companies and some of their regular Engage partners were attendees. I learnt most of them had attended this kind of meetup before too. Most of the attendees were from the companies who manage in house big budget campaigns. Some of the questions they asked were enough to hint that they are on the early stage of the learning curve. There were some tables filled with corporate engage partners too who actively work with Google, selling adwords packages.

First half of the day was spent discussing adwords display advertising features and best practices. Second half was more interesting with discussion on Youtube Advertising and address by the Google’s Marketing Manager, Swagat Sarangi. Youtube advertising has some newly introduced features. The trainer discussed many facts and figures about it.

Some keynotes were figures regarding traffic generation, rates of the banner and mobile ads on youtube. Whereas Youtube masthead costs 6-7 lacs per day, a similar banner on mobile interface costs only Rs.2 Lacs. It looked like they are eager to sell this product through their adwords sales channel. I wonder here why would any advertiser leave the mobile space when one is paying for its web interface. If you are looking for booking a masthead on Youtube, you must bargain to get it bundled with mobile banner too.

Since they are selling it through a dedicated direct sales team, I assume they must be leaving some space for bargaining. From my experience in direct sales, I can tell you such type of products are last moment throwaways for sealing the deal. So, you must bargain for this one too, maybe it comes at a far more discounted rate or even as a freebie with regular masthead.

Many people wanted the Free vouchers which has been discontinued since October to be launched again through Engage Partners. Swagat replied there were too many cases of fraudulent practices and instances of gaming the system through multiple URL and blogspot URl to circumvent the provisions of new account creation, so it is difficult to start that once again. He also shared Larry Page’s concern regarding free vouchers, quoting him that The sales can be doubled instantly by tweaking the Search results in favor of someone for a single day but harmful in the long run, so sales alone is not the mission. However, he also shared that he is thinking about it because he knows the impact on sales because of this. Given the kind of pressure from Google’s prime sales partners, it looks like some kind of arrangement is underway.

Swagat also wanted some informal chat in the end with Engage partners over a cup of coffee in the end, however, most of them were leaving, so I too left the venue. Perhaps some were left behind, who must have had the opportunity to chat with him, maybe regular problems and their solutions.

After coming back I found that the folder I was given there contains an exam voucher code and a 4GB USB Pen Drive from Moser Baer. Previous Year I had to pay for the exam because I received the voucher a day after I took the Exam despite a long follow up for the same. Thanks for this, but I have already taken the exam this year, using previous year’s voucher and was pleasantly surprised to see that Google has included all the exams in a Single voucher unlike earlier when one could take only one specialization exam with one voucher.

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“Rich Media Rocks 2012” by Microsoft in Delhi, India

Rich Media ads or interactive ads, which after the advent of  “Permission Marketing” theories, and Google’s hyper emphasis on unobtrusive advertisement had made it   a bad word for content on internet. A simple, clean and clear-cut presentation became recipe of acceptance for visitors, publishers and advertising platform providers. A good presentation on a page should meet all the three goals: the goal of the visitor , the goal of the publisher and the goal of the advertiser. A publisher should neither provide content solely for Visitors, who are selfish enough to leave the moment their goal is met, nor for the advertisers alone who would benefit mostly from interruption and turn the visitors off. Somebody has aptly described a path between Permission and Interruption as Intermission, which provides a refreshing break which is beneficial for all. So, rich media has actually room in the sphere of Good User experience. Microsoft sponsored conference on March, 1st, 2012 was to spread this sort of awareness among Marketers and Advertisers.

Nivelle Taraporewalla, the opener, claimed he was under-prepared and offered some unquestionable insights. His observation that web has moved beyond desktops to many new devices and applications of which TV too would become a part of it, raised no questions. A country Director of a company like Microsoft seldom offers views which even remotely touches the borderline of debatable topics. Should they drop a hint and people start reading between the lines. So, his presentation was more to do with his position rather than his unpreparedness.

Pushkar Sane, was the next speaker . His view on why you shouldn’t interrupt Facebook friends, with blunt marketing pitches, sounded convincing. He coined “Friends or Facends!” to demonstrate how relationship may sour because of insensivity, which touched the nerve of the audience. He elaborated it with many examples, how taking things for granted, may harm you in the long run. I overheard many people praising him during lunch time. I myself acknowledge such speakers leave everlasting impression on audience.

Trevor Yeats talked about Microsoft products as was expected of him. His presentation was very well prepared and appeared flawless. People asked him many questions and it appeared like the audience had warmed up by then and a momentum was set in. I asked him, why Microsoft sells its Banner ads through direct sales unlike Google which anybody can target through auction bid, from right inside the adwords dashboard. He answered, that it has something to do with Google’s focus on Search and Microsoft’s on Portals, though its a notable point. 

Farshad Family shared his insights on web tracking and how facebook cookies and other related means are used by Neilson’s tracking software to successfully predict the demographics and consumer behavior. He was demonstrating how this software is capable of improving the targeting of ads and how they boost the ROI. It was an interesting session.

After break John Paul Stift and Andrew Young, both from Microsoft presented useful insights, on purchase behavior, attracting through creating experience, converting interest into action and fostering long lasting advocacy. One of them, I don’t remember exactly, claimed a very high level of CTR through rich media engagement.

Oded Lida Greiss shared his own experiences and success with Rich media campaigns. He impressed everyone with his case study on trappers, whose campaign he himself had created. He shared how this campaign turned viral and drove sales and traffic astronomically. A large part of his presentation, the visuals, were non-english. People talked to him about cost of such campaigns and cost effectiveness, because they appeared to be very unique, a kind of their own. He replied, such costs are “redundant” compared to the cost incurred on purchase of the ad slot itself. A diplomatic sort of answer!

After that there was a lucky draw of visiting cards for Xbox 360. I had given them my name written on a piece of paper. When they picked one, it was a Lucky Piece of paper, but it was announced that it had the name of a Microsoft Employee (undisclosed) on it and hence disqualified. They announced another winner. Well, I had given them my name on a piece of paper and it appears the wise people of Microsoft thought, its uniqueness must be diluted by introducing more “piece of papers”. I suspect it must be the mind of Trevor Yeats, who had announced that “People are very enthusiastic about the Lucky Draw”, soon after I gave my “piece of paper” at the reception. Anyway, I just wanted to participate, and am happy I did.

(P.S-----> I have relied upon my own note and memory on what the above mentioned people have said. I checked for videos and other sources, which were not available at the time. Many things may not be accurate or may even have quotation shift error . Fans and followers of them need to take no offence, I would be glad to correct myself. I was the first to publish it, and there are many resources available now on the web. Some of the speakers are publishing it on their own too. )

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Twitter Social Media Meetup in Delhi - 50th Social Media Breakfast

50th edition of Social Media Meetup Group, Social Media Breakfast was held today(April, 19th, 2011). The meetup group founded 50 weeks ago, is a fortnight short of reaching its annual anniversary. Commendable feat! A without fail, weekly meetup, where people come in to share thoughts on social media, also get excellent breakfast free of cost.

I have been part of most of them. Today's gathering discussed about the future course of this meeting. I and several regular attendees have enjoyed the hospitality of the host Simarpreet Singh, throughout the year, and he has agreed to take it forward in future too.

Simarpreet shared ideas behind the formation of this group and also how he would be adding some other dimensions to it. Roughly, a year ago he had used meetup to promote his new launch twitsnaps.com, inviting famous twitter personalities to share ideas on its usage, as panelists.

This time, however, he declined the possibility of this becoming a similar kind of session in future, at least not on a regular basis citing two reasons, 1) What better they can contribute than what they do on twitter, and 2) He does not want the group to listen to sermons of few people and not interacting among themselves. Both seems to be valid reasons.

I have noted on several occasions, Simarpreet does not like following people, simply because they are celebrities, sometimes he shares why he unfollowed X, some of which I can easily recall are: 1) They were not interactive; 2) They were serving automated tweets; 3) Though X is a famous TV personality, she has communal mindset.

All of us have their own reasons to follow and unfollow, however, if you can share the ideas on which you base your following and unfollowing decisions, you are very likely to refine and improve it, and convert it into principles.

Twitter is not the game of numbers, however, it does impact your thinking, because you react or tend to react to every tweet that goes through your timeline. Simarpreet, may not be a great twitter entertainer, in terms of number of followers, many other boasts of, but he surely is the master of interaction, taking it beyond twitter, which is the very purpose of tweeting.

Although Simarpreet is the owner and sponsor of this meetup group, he surely has not attended all the meetings, I've found him missing on many occasions. I myself haven't attended many of them however, Kaushik, his employee and organizer was visible in all the meetings I have attended, and should get some credit for continuity of this group for such a long time.

Evaluating the success of this group from organizer's and attendees' side, while organizer gets some PR boost at the cost of time and money, attendees have only time to scarifice and gain depends on their level of interaction with other members. Some online corporate twitter groups, like Four Square, have mastered the art of Twitter Best Practices and if you follow one, they will make you familiar with others through their tweets, mentioning them frequently, and follower of one are very likely to become follower of others.

Choosing the right occasion and time of mention is an art and those who want to pursue a career in social media management must master it to the hilt. It must look natural, at least. Simarpreet says, he may not be interested in maintaining a group of larger than twenty in the long run, and may have to rethink the strategy, if the situation arise, for it becomes uneconomical. A gathering of more than 20 is surely not something that can be entertained, if you can't see some kind of return in them.

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Why twitter should focus on Tweetups?

Someone has a very interesting query (via mail) regarding my last post, Why and How to use Meetups for Branding and Selling - Analysis. The gist of which is:

Why Twitter should promote Tweetups, when it is solely designed for conversation, and the term doesn't mean meeting at a venue. Even a group of people having conversation on twitter is called a tweetup. ...... what kind of changes you have in mind that twitter failed to do?

Well said! Tweetup does mean conversation on twitter itself. Many people use this term as such. Many don't. Let us not engage in this wrangle. I have used this term for meeting at a venue. Also, if meetup keeps on growing the way it is, tweetup in future might only mean what you have said. Regarding, how twitter might have promoted tweetups into its interface, it is the job of Developers and Thinkers who are behind twitter. They are very much capable, no question about that. Twitter is an Original Concept, I have no question on that too. However, there are many people who find it boring, you should not question this too. This is proven by stats. It is easy to open a twitter account, but after that things become very difficult. People leave in frustration, because they don't know how to connect and engage. Joining a group near you based on your own interest would only make it more interesting. Twitter has recently included promoted tweets. Before that they already had trending topics. It would be great if it also suggest some interesting meetup/tweetup group near you, just the way it suggests people you should follow. It does not require very critical thinking, and it is beneficial for the brand twitter. It gives one more reason to be on twitter interface. Someone, may come on twitter and learn about some meetup/tweetup groups near them, it would only help improve the conversation. It is nothing that requires shift in focus. It is perfectly in line with the business twitter already is into. Yes, you may say people can and do arrange such an event on twitter through conversation even now, and twitter just don't need to include it into its interface. Agree! but it does not make it that much interesting. Also, I find twitter is groping for ideas to make things easier for people who struggles to find the reason why twitter even exists and what they are supposed to do on it. There are many people who thinks it is plain useless and twitter needs to show the benefit of coming to it, which should not be too difficult to find. Twitter has a challenge which if it does not tackle deftly in near future than it may become a bubble of the past. Many sites like digg, stumbleupon, reddit... have great content to share. They missed one single point of fecilitating great conversation around them and twitter stole it. Now, the challenge is, who can escalate the discussion in real life and meetup might steal it. So, the way digg missed something at some point of time, when it was capable of doing it fairly easily, twitter is left at the same point. Finally, twitter need to address the need of a vast audience it has amassed who were nothing but riding a fad, and show them the utility. If it fails these people would find facebook a great place and twitter a useless one. Meeting is the next big thing and it is the natural outcome of the great conversation that twitter promises and boasts of. Finally, yes, you can still do all those things which a proposed change may affect, but that is only for people who knows how to use it. Many people don't even know that search.twitter.com exists. Bringing those features on twitter interface would only increase the usage and make things more interesting.

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Why and How to use Meetups for Branding and Selling - Analysis

Did You say tweetup? Looks old now!

You don't need to be on twitter to meet new people. Twitter doesn't have a dedicated application for organizing tweetups.

Its new interface adds new features, which smells like inspiration from facebook. Twitter doesn't seem to be serious about its greatest selling point, Tweetups. Had it been, the new interface would must  have some applications for it. Does it matter though, when you have cool site like meetup.com, which is all set to steal the concept of tweetup to re-brand it as Meetup?

This change is happening silently and steadily, people no more say they organized a tweetup, rather they organize Meetup.

Meetup does not allow you to make friends like any other networking site, and this is what makes it different . Anyway, it is not like other networking websites. It is about managing meet ups based on interest and locality.

You just need to browse groups and find out what is best suited to your interest, need and accessibility. It helps you engage in real life conversation.

Meetup has many growing communities, who really meet each other. Facebook allows you to add friends, twitter allows you to have conversation with a lot of people, and at both the places, you don't know who they are! Meetup is something you should add to your social media portfolio, it will help you find people who are actually meeting at a place.

The least pondered fact about social networking websites is that they fail to create a real network. The cause of this failure is that everyone connected to you don't have the same purpose and mission. Twitter and Facebook has created mad rush for fans and followers.

People and brands have treated fans and followers as capital, which returns sales revenue. Targeting focused and engaged audience reduces your efforts and increases ROI. Segmenting them according to refined interests and demographics further enhances your ROI.

Meetup reverses this entire exercise by directly engaging people who are already sharing in real life. You create a meetup group, you engage them in real life and also on meetup.com. It is a great branding opportunity! While twitter and facebook is full of brands who are engaged in full time marketing, meetup has yet to see them doing the same on meetup.com. Techcrunch, Mashable and many other websites are promoting this concept by directly allowing users to create meetup groups through their website.You may expect the concept to get more refined in future with meetup developing better ways for connecting people.

The business of making people talk and the business of making people meet are two different things. More Talking leads to less listening and then everyone shouts and nobody listens, which is the case with twitter now. If you posted a question on twitter, half a year ago, you might had got half a dozen response, but now you would seldom get a single response with double the number of followers. Attitude has changed! Everybody is shouting and very few listens. Because of this change of attitude, people need to meet in real life to have real conversation both online and offline.

Here comes the role of meetups and meetup.com. Popular way of searching a meetup group near you is similar to searching it for anything else on google. just type the query, Meetup in delhi, meetups in mumbai, meetups in banagalore.....meetups in kolkata and you would hit upon the corresponding meetup group and similar conversations about meetups happening around you.

Organizing meet ups is an old science. There were religious meet up groups in the past, where people with similar attitude and ideas used to meet over a long time period. Napolean Hill talks about how meeting of same people over a long time period makes them create a powerful mastermind.

More the number, more the challenges. Two of the person can arrange meeting anywhere and any time, three would require a consensus and more would definitely an organized effort, because more the number of people more the chances of people drifting away.

It is highly probable that marketers would target meetup groups for branding and selling in near future. All you need is an idea woven around your product that could instigate people to meet. When you have an idea and you have people, you just need a venue to make it an event. Events are powerful promotional tools, because they leave a long lasting impression on everyone who were part of it and also on those who wanted to be part of it and also those who heard about it but were neither part of it nor had reason to be part of it. In a nutshell, it is manifold expansion of idea. Marketing by meetups need not be an expensive affair. Because you need to do it very often maintaining a frequency which is cost effective and rather profitable. it should be No Frills.

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