how india's mobile phone service providers use facebook?

India Co-creates: A Status Update 2011-12

India’s Mobile Phone Operators Enter Social Space

A cursory look at the official social media networking sites of India’s top mobile phone operators can show how customers are desperate to get their issues escalated and resolved using social media, and how mobile phone service providers find it a challenge to use social media as an effective customer co-creation channel.

Sample the following “conversation” between a customer and an Indian mobile phone service provider, in its official Facebook page.

Nivedita Datta(December 26, 2011 at 12:11pm)

“Dear (Operator), Hope u get back to me soon else I shall shift from (Operator) to some other provider & will recommend others also nt to go to (Operator) for their poor service. Regards, A (till now) loyal (Operator) cust.”

Operator(December 26, 2011 at 3:53pm)

“Hi Nivedita, We tried calling you but the number was switched off. Please share an alternate contact number for us here http://bit.ly/something to help you better.”

Nivedita Datta(December 26, 2011 at 6:58pm)“I called at the toll free no for assistance & was put on hold forever... seems u ppl don't anymore care about needs of your customers or u hav too many customers so u don't care about losing a few...!”

Operator

Author: G Sankaranarayanan


(December 27, 2011 at 9:48am)“Hello Nivedita, Thanks for speaking with us, do let us know whenever you need our assistance.”

Nivedita Datta

(December 27, 2011 at 9:50am)“seems u did't read what I wrote... No one picked my call to help me out...! N I m freaked out with such service...! and very soon i'll move out of (Operator) as I am losing trust on ur services...! :/”

Operator(December 27, 2011 at 12:04pm)“Hello Nivedita, We request you to write to us at customercare@(Operator.in) for further assistance.”

Nivedita Datta(December 27, 2011 at 12:05pm)“I hav done that as well bt no reply...”

Operator(December 27, 2011 at 3:24pm)“Hi Nivedita, Thanks for speaking with us, trust we were able to assist you with the info needed.”

This is not an isolated incident pertaining to a particular operator. One can take out any number of such cases of poor corporate social communication from the Facebook pages of almost all operators.

Until social media emerged, there is no way for the customers to interact with operators openly or the public to watch the interactions real time. Needless to say, this is an opportunity, as handling of a problem situation better would have made not only the concerned customer but also others who are observing the scene feel better. A good ending to a social media conversation equals to a crore worth of advertisement.

It’s time that operators trained their social media team in social communication, and importantly, empower the team with more power to resolve customer issues. To begin with, the social media



team should be not an exclusive social media team, but a team that is comprised of heads of different functions - from product development to marketing to customer care. So, when there is an issue, the social media team does not have to ask the customer on Facebook to write to [email protected], but simply solve issues.

Social media for business value

It also becomes clear that the operators are yet to focus on co-creating business value using social media. They want to simply boost the number of likes, trigger more comments on aimless conversations around frivolous current affairs. As Jason Falls, Author of No Bullshit Social Media says, “We’ve had enough of the hippie, tree-hugger, Kumbaya nonsense and want to start using social media as a strategic business driver".

Social media is a numbers game - but the numbers are not only about the quantity of the following (see Table 1), but also about the quality of business results. Tata Docomo have huge, huge number of fans - over 50 lakh and counting, an enormous feat! But how they are being tapped for generating new product idea, service offering, or a corporate social responsibility project is a big question.

For instance, Idea Cellular is running several engagement projects such as “Give us Your Idea Mantra”, “Idea Frames”, and “Citizen Journalists” that

go well with the promotion of its “idea” brand. Idea Frames is a good example of engaging people for brand promotion. Idea Frames features interesting photographs shared by its fans and followers, who “can grab your day of fame by uploading


Source: Younomy Research

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lFtSFpW3nsU/TwaipgatP3I/AAAAAAAAAOs/rQXg06IocFk/s1600/Operators+Facebook.jpg


interesting photographs”. Idea’s Citizen Journalists project, which promotes video content posted by general public on serious civic, social issues, is another case in point.

However, many a times, such crowd-sourcing projects are embarked upon without providing a road map as to how the user generated ideas would be used. Recently Idea Mantra asked the fans and friends to contribute their ideas for reducing the crime rate against women, and tips to Indian cricket team to win a tournament. There are hundreds of idea submissions that most probably would go down the social media stream unnoticed and unused.

Operators need to think about a specific value that can be co-created with their followers, and if needed, have to partner with organizations to ensure that the crowd-sourced ideas see the light of day.

Mapping the Distribution of Dandelions

Facebook or Youtube or Twitter is not just for companies to push latest promotions, and offers to customers. They give opportunities for them to convert customers into co-creators of a more strategic business value.

Consider Fujitsu’s truly inspiring “Dandelion Front Map” project. Launched in February, 2011, Fujitsu’s "Let's Make a Nationwide Dandelion Front Map Together!" project aims to crowd-source photos of dandelions, Japan’s famous flower, taken by its

employees, their families, and general public so as to map the distribution of these flowers in Japan. Fujitsu is partnering with Aichi University of Education.


Source: Fujitsu

http://www.fujitsu.com/img/ECO/about/environment/communication/report/2011/feature/dandelion-020.jpg


This is how it works: Anyone with the mobile phone having a camera, can take part in the project. The participants have to take photos of nearby dandelions in bloom using the camera function of their GPS-equipped mobile phones, and send them to a designated e-mail address. Fujitsu stores the information in a database and plots them as a map, which would show the nationwide distribution of dandelion species in Japan. The company expects the project to contribute its bit to biodiversity conservation, and raise awareness of the importance of the issue among employees and public.

With their growing, active, and intelligent following, India’s mobile phone operators too have opportunity and responsibility to conceive co-creation projects that aims at a business, social or environmental value.

Highlights of Operators’ Social Media Projects:Notwithstanding shortfalls, there are many interesting things to note from the way the operators manage their social media initiatives. Some of them are:

Tata Docomo’s Facebook Page Rules

With the daunting task of managing a community of over 50 lakh fans, Tata Docomo has done a great job by coming up with a Facebook Page Rules. The Rules provide instructions related to what type of content is welcome, and what is not, among others. When the posts violate the rules, the company can remove them.

Tata Docomo’s Promotional Schemes:

Tata Docomo’s contest 'Jeet Ki Ghanti' rewards (though not a social media-exclusive one) its loyal customers with bikes and



cars. The pan India contest had generated a huge response. “We had expected 3-4 per cent response from our current base, but it had exceeded 10 per cent," said a company executive. The participation from across the country crossed over 9.5 million - the company’s subscriber base is about 90 million, proving to be “a testimony to the brand for leveraging digital media for driving connect and creating a strong and unique position in the digital world”.

Airtel & Idea Cellular’s Exclusive Customer Complaint Page

The customers number one priority appears to be solving issues they face with the mobile phone services. Like what Airtel and Idea Cellular have done, there can be an exclusive page for “customer complaints”, and they should be duly, effectively sorted out. The social media team of many operators simply do not respond to neither customer complaints nor the compliments in a genuine, human-like voice.

Author: G SankaranarayananMail: [email protected]


how india's mobile phone service providers use facebook?

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