There are over 120 million blogs vying for attention from visitors of all age, creed, color, sex, nationality. What started off as an innocous way of publishing “what am I doing” has become one of the biggest strategic milestones in the execution of a successful online marketing plan. What is it then, that makes a blog popular or successful than others in relative terms?
India, the largest democracy in the world, recently witnessed a nearly 2-month long election process. 2 months, yes that’s what it takes for us to choose the people that would govern us for the next 5 years. For the last many terms, Indian parliament has witnessed a hung mandate. No party has been able to emerge as clear majority holder, and therefore, we have seen numerous pre and post poll alliances taking shape. We have survived through the black period of late 1990’s when we witnessed three general elections in a decade, two of them in less than eighteen months.
The latest general elections, however, tend to steer back in the direction of a single party majority. While I personally was of the view that Mayawati will play a significant role in king-making this term, and be a king most probably with the next term, I humbly stand corrected. Congress emerged as the single largest party with over 200 seats in its own kitty, with a total of 273 required for a clear majority. BJP on the other hand, was routed in most states, and performed even worse than previous term. So, what went for and against Congress and BJP in this general election?
One thing – Content, nothing but content ruled this election. Let me take an analogy before I explain how it was content that worked.
In Social Media parlance, it is often always said that the secret to effective and sustainable returns is to offer value. A google search for effective blogging tips will return thousands of results, with all saying the same thing – Be real, offer value, Be resourceful, Be helpful and so on and so forth. As long as people find value in your tweets, on your blog, on your website, they will follow you, subscribe to your blog. This is the single most important aspect on building an effective Web2.0 marketing strategy.
How did this work in case of Indian elections? Well, quite simply, Congress offered real value to its voter base. Their manifesto was laden with pro-poor policies, and proposed solutions for issues that effected people across the societal layers. They had a plan, they shared a vision, and they demonstrated very effectively how they can make a difference to people’s lives.
BJP on the other hand, didn’t have any national agenda. Their entire election campaigning was designed on what I call “the three-itch symptoms of unsuccessful blogger syndrome” They copied from others’ successes (which in a way is not that bad if done in isolation and creatively), they repeatedly and relentlessly pursued negative campaigning, and worst of all, didn’t bring any real value to the table.
Mr. L K Advani is a seasoned, honest, veteran politician. His advisors had a blog put up the very instant elections were announced much on the lines of the Obama campaign in the United States. They picked up inventory in every possible targeted demography, in India and abroad, targeting resident and non-resident Indians alike.
What’s wrong with the strategy – Nothing, I would say, but I come back to the point – creativity – Where was the creative element? What was the value being offered to the common man? Zilch, Nada, Nothing.
Most of the Radio spots I heard with BJP campaigns blamed congress for the economic slowdown, but didn’t offer any theory of their own for revival. While they were tagging Dr. Manmohan Singh as the “weak” prime minister, they had no answer to their own Kandahar fiasco.
BSP, on the other hand, was too mesmerised with its own daunting paraphernalia of memorials and statues across the largest state within India. They have erected numerous monuments, memorials, parks in reverence of great leaders such as Dr. B R Ambedkar, but did they offer any value to the voter? No, the answer was zilch again. Were they able to educate their electorate on how their lives would improve if BSP was elected? No, instead, they too chose the negative campaigning and self immolating megalomaniac attitude through out their campaign.
So, who in the end emerged the winner? Well, people of India, of course. They single handedly rejected planks and chose the party that promised to offer value. They chose the leaders that talked about how they would bring about improvement in the lives of people. Whether they deliver on this promise is yet to be seen, though I am very hopeful of it as one of their first promise is to bring down the average age in the cabinet – which is a very welcome sign.
Online marketing works in quite the same manner. If you wish users to subscribe to your blog, sign up for your newsletter, keep re-tweeting your tweets, you HAVE GOT TO offer them value. You have to offer them something that they aspire. Even if you tweet something as basic as a funny pic, it does address fulfilment of an element of desire.
Continuously blabbing about yourself, bringing down your competitors will only effect you negatively. People want to know about things that effect them, not how great you or your product or your services are. As long as you will bring this value to the table, people WILL continue to talk about you, and recommend you as a valuable resource and that’s what is going to enhance your brand equity for the longer term.
If you have any questions about how we can assist you in building content around your business vertical, we will be happy to help. Just drop us a note at info at e-businessinteractive dot com and someone will call you within a day. That’s a promise!
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