This document deals with influencer analysis in social media. Influencers can be either a user or a publication. This report would give a step-by-step process of generating an index the most relevant users and publications and sorting them based on the overall scores. Then a test has been performed based on a survey to validate the weights of the analysis.
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2013
Friday, June 22, 2012
Age of photography services
Photographer - when we think of the term an image of a person with disheveled hair and rugged clothes lugging around a huge equipment around the neck, wandering in far corners of the world looking for a perfect shot. Apparently civilization was too mundane for them.
Bam! digital photography came and a mother with a kid wrapped around her neck, supported by her waist became a photographer. I remember those days when we shot using those costly camera reels on family vacations, every picture needed to have our face in it because who knew which picture would simply refuse to appear on a paper. Now with my cell phone camera I shoot away happily and cramming the pictures in my computer hard drive which metaphorically creaked under the Gigabytes of photos. Yet there is an elite world of DSLR cam artists. I call them artist because of the wonders they do with their sophisticated cameras and high end softwares. People like me still don't understand aperture, ISO, white balance etc. Still I love to keep memories and share with friends and thanks to picassa, facebook and instagram.
When you come to think about it this is a whole segment of home grown photographers. I found the following needs that this segment has:
- Easy to operate camera: You don't need a big zoom lens to capture your dog doing tricks. A simple point and shoot device would do. This is where mobile phone makers have hit the nail right on the head.
- Simple editing service: This service need not require a software installation. It could be online. Now a days any tool from MS Office to picassa has simple picture correction and adjustment tools.
- Sharing services: Remember my creaking hard disk. Well it has just breathed a sigh of relief. All the photo sharing and online sharing services
There is a whole new dimension I found with a camera called Lytro. This is a special kind of camera which allows you to focus on different parts of a picture after capturing it. That is all about technology. The thing that interested me the most was its service that comes with the camera. After capturing the pictures you straight away upload those to your account on their website which has an inbuilt tool to change focus.
Perhaps other camera manufacturers should take a clue from this and realize that world is moving from just a good product to a great experience.
Bam! digital photography came and a mother with a kid wrapped around her neck, supported by her waist became a photographer. I remember those days when we shot using those costly camera reels on family vacations, every picture needed to have our face in it because who knew which picture would simply refuse to appear on a paper. Now with my cell phone camera I shoot away happily and cramming the pictures in my computer hard drive which metaphorically creaked under the Gigabytes of photos. Yet there is an elite world of DSLR cam artists. I call them artist because of the wonders they do with their sophisticated cameras and high end softwares. People like me still don't understand aperture, ISO, white balance etc. Still I love to keep memories and share with friends and thanks to picassa, facebook and instagram.
When you come to think about it this is a whole segment of home grown photographers. I found the following needs that this segment has:
- Easy to operate camera: You don't need a big zoom lens to capture your dog doing tricks. A simple point and shoot device would do. This is where mobile phone makers have hit the nail right on the head.
- Simple editing service: This service need not require a software installation. It could be online. Now a days any tool from MS Office to picassa has simple picture correction and adjustment tools.
- Sharing services: Remember my creaking hard disk. Well it has just breathed a sigh of relief. All the photo sharing and online sharing services
There is a whole new dimension I found with a camera called Lytro. This is a special kind of camera which allows you to focus on different parts of a picture after capturing it. That is all about technology. The thing that interested me the most was its service that comes with the camera. After capturing the pictures you straight away upload those to your account on their website which has an inbuilt tool to change focus.
Perhaps other camera manufacturers should take a clue from this and realize that world is moving from just a good product to a great experience.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Google Ad Planner Tutorial for Beginners
Google Ad Planner - VGSOM - 4050
Google Ad Planner works as an excellent STP (Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning) tool as well. It helps you to segment the entire social web sphere based on certain parameters specified by you. You can then choose which segment to target. The advertisements will be shown only to those target audience. This going one step ahead also helps to you design your advertisement strategy or in a way positioning your offering.
Most of the analytics tools present give answers to the questions Why and What. They will tell you the trend, why the trend is like that and all stuff. Google Ad Planner not only tells you what and why but also guides you to use this what and why for your benefit.
Google Ad Planner works as an excellent STP (Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning) tool as well. It helps you to segment the entire social web sphere based on certain parameters specified by you. You can then choose which segment to target. The advertisements will be shown only to those target audience. This going one step ahead also helps to you design your advertisement strategy or in a way positioning your offering.
Most of the analytics tools present give answers to the questions Why and What. They will tell you the trend, why the trend is like that and all stuff. Google Ad Planner not only tells you what and why but also guides you to use this what and why for your benefit.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
How selling coconuts infront of software company is better than coding!
I would begin by saying that there was no disrespect meant for the 'great Indian software industry'. It has done an extraordinary job of boosting Indian exports and job market.
But being in the industry for more than two years at the fag end of the IT (Information technology) ladder as a coder helped me develop a certain perspective. This was based on observations made while hunting for eateries around my office. Why so? Yes I know this would be the obvious question as almost all descent sized IT companies have their own cafeteria. But my dear friend when you are in IT and you spend more time in the office than with your family (assuming that your wife works in IT too, this family time could be reduced by a factor of 10). So, you having the same food more than twice a day at same place for months together does the trick of getting you bored to the extent that 'parathas' (Indian stuffed bread) outside the office below an asbestos sheet taste better than the claimed star service of cafeteria!
No wonder you go to any IT company in India you find a sort of fair going on outside the offices with people enjoying the lip-smacking parathas, chowmeins, chats (Indian savory) and coconuts water or cane juice, depending on the part of India you visit. I write about coconuts as I happened to work in the IT capital of India, Bangalore. The crowd is directly proportional to the size of office space and the one I used to work in was huge, and when I say huge I am thinking of HR numbers in excess of 20,000.
Standard law of demand and supply ruled. Demand was off the charts and suppliers were few so customers were at mercy of those miserable caterers who unlike the ones serving inside the campus did not know English but knew how to make money. During lunch breaks any odd shop would have long queues outside. I have spent many a days waiting in those for most part of my break and hogging all my food ASAP, lest a mail from my boss popped up asking something ASAP. My absence would have reflected pretty bad on my appraisal, which was of no use as such. Anyways that story some other time. Right now let us focus on selling coconuts, shall we?
Once upon a time, three frustrated friends got lucky enough to stand ahead of a meal queue and went through the process in no time as we could not control ourselves once the food came, due to our habit of eating fast (refer the ASAP line). We still had a lot of time as the aforementioned break was not over yet. It was hot outside so we decided to go for the Indian body coolant, the coconut water. While having it we were on with our favorite discussion on salary hike, appraisal rating, boss and job switch. I was casually sipping from the coconut shell and watching the seller expertly slicing coconut tops with a machete and serving at the rate of around 3 customers per minute and in the meanwhile collecting a cool sum of Rs. 12 per coconut. The same coconut cost around Rs. 5 near my home (in Bangalore itself).
Although limited by my wits, a clever thought ran through my mind. I thought that this person would have bought coconuts from a place that would be like the one near my home where all the coconuts were unloaded from trucks every morning. It was a sort of wholesale market. If the retailers there sell it at around Rs. 5, they must at least have a margin of Re. 1 per piece. That meant our office coconut guy earned a neat sum of Rs. 8 per coconut. Making rough calculations with the number of coconuts (about 150 which he had neatly stacked up below a tree) the figure came to Rs. 1200 per day. He sold all the of them daily and had to work for 20 days a month (to match the IT company work calendar of five days a week) and approximately 6 hours a day give or take. That means a sweet Rs. 24,000 profit without tax and any cost. I mean, come on do you think he would declare his income? He sold coconuts beneath a tree so no investment! Then I compared it with my salary at that time which was Rs. 18K give or take. Full Rs 6K short even after being an engineering graduate and working more than 10 hours a day and more than 20 days a month mostly (the 5 days per week is a myth)!
Then I turned my attention to the burgeoning catering cartel around the place and I could not even begin to wonder how much would they be earning. I was at one point of time seriously contemplated about my next job switch. You don't need three guesses to tell what options I had in mind. OK let me give a clue - outside the office, small shed, parathas, coconuts...
However something else happened and I ended up doing an MBA, spending more money I earned back in those days. After spending the whole two years I somehow find humor in it when I imagine myself slicing coconuts with a swish of a cross between knife and a home made sword. Hope you like it. See you.
But being in the industry for more than two years at the fag end of the IT (Information technology) ladder as a coder helped me develop a certain perspective. This was based on observations made while hunting for eateries around my office. Why so? Yes I know this would be the obvious question as almost all descent sized IT companies have their own cafeteria. But my dear friend when you are in IT and you spend more time in the office than with your family (assuming that your wife works in IT too, this family time could be reduced by a factor of 10). So, you having the same food more than twice a day at same place for months together does the trick of getting you bored to the extent that 'parathas' (Indian stuffed bread) outside the office below an asbestos sheet taste better than the claimed star service of cafeteria!
No wonder you go to any IT company in India you find a sort of fair going on outside the offices with people enjoying the lip-smacking parathas, chowmeins, chats (Indian savory) and coconuts water or cane juice, depending on the part of India you visit. I write about coconuts as I happened to work in the IT capital of India, Bangalore. The crowd is directly proportional to the size of office space and the one I used to work in was huge, and when I say huge I am thinking of HR numbers in excess of 20,000.
Standard law of demand and supply ruled. Demand was off the charts and suppliers were few so customers were at mercy of those miserable caterers who unlike the ones serving inside the campus did not know English but knew how to make money. During lunch breaks any odd shop would have long queues outside. I have spent many a days waiting in those for most part of my break and hogging all my food ASAP, lest a mail from my boss popped up asking something ASAP. My absence would have reflected pretty bad on my appraisal, which was of no use as such. Anyways that story some other time. Right now let us focus on selling coconuts, shall we?
Once upon a time, three frustrated friends got lucky enough to stand ahead of a meal queue and went through the process in no time as we could not control ourselves once the food came, due to our habit of eating fast (refer the ASAP line). We still had a lot of time as the aforementioned break was not over yet. It was hot outside so we decided to go for the Indian body coolant, the coconut water. While having it we were on with our favorite discussion on salary hike, appraisal rating, boss and job switch. I was casually sipping from the coconut shell and watching the seller expertly slicing coconut tops with a machete and serving at the rate of around 3 customers per minute and in the meanwhile collecting a cool sum of Rs. 12 per coconut. The same coconut cost around Rs. 5 near my home (in Bangalore itself).
Although limited by my wits, a clever thought ran through my mind. I thought that this person would have bought coconuts from a place that would be like the one near my home where all the coconuts were unloaded from trucks every morning. It was a sort of wholesale market. If the retailers there sell it at around Rs. 5, they must at least have a margin of Re. 1 per piece. That meant our office coconut guy earned a neat sum of Rs. 8 per coconut. Making rough calculations with the number of coconuts (about 150 which he had neatly stacked up below a tree) the figure came to Rs. 1200 per day. He sold all the of them daily and had to work for 20 days a month (to match the IT company work calendar of five days a week) and approximately 6 hours a day give or take. That means a sweet Rs. 24,000 profit without tax and any cost. I mean, come on do you think he would declare his income? He sold coconuts beneath a tree so no investment! Then I compared it with my salary at that time which was Rs. 18K give or take. Full Rs 6K short even after being an engineering graduate and working more than 10 hours a day and more than 20 days a month mostly (the 5 days per week is a myth)!
Then I turned my attention to the burgeoning catering cartel around the place and I could not even begin to wonder how much would they be earning. I was at one point of time seriously contemplated about my next job switch. You don't need three guesses to tell what options I had in mind. OK let me give a clue - outside the office, small shed, parathas, coconuts...
However something else happened and I ended up doing an MBA, spending more money I earned back in those days. After spending the whole two years I somehow find humor in it when I imagine myself slicing coconuts with a swish of a cross between knife and a home made sword. Hope you like it. See you.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Heart marketing
There are many ways people do business. some by using brain, some by heart and some by brawn.
I rather have my business with emotions and sentiments.you may say its not different from the above three and i am just reframing my own lines round and round. But no its different and i'm telling you how. Just take an example- I say that "to keep your customers, your customers forever try and become their customer yourself".
Stumped? Well even i was when i first stumbled upon this notion. But after some pondering i found that it makes sense. Whenever you go and buy something from a store you dont just buy, you sell too. Actually its a barter of sorts. You keep the goods and the shopkeeper has to keep the bads or else you will never have the loyalty of yours going.
What are goods and bads? Goods are the things you take away with you while leaving from the store. Be it the thing you purchased or the bluff of the shopkeeper, the impression of how the store looked, how the salespeople dressed, the way you were treated... and the list goes on and on.. As far as the bads are concerned its a tricky stuff. I am not going to use quotes of any great marketeer as i found none and hey its my idea and how can some one else comment before I even show it to the world! Yes, the bads. Now attention all, the bads is what you give to the shopkeeper in exchange for the goods they sold to you.
Stumped again? Lets get lucid. No one is happy when going for a purchase as its not the heaven of customers where goods are supplied for free. You have to shell out from your wallet to get them. And I'd say no one willingly goes for a purchase until and unless its a necessity. Necessity is plain english so i won't explain that. Lets understand what creates necessity. In our daily lives it can be created out of what our body needs/desires viz. food, water, tasty food, junk food, status food and all blah blah. Again there is some emotional shopping too like the things you buy just because your neighbour has it or something that you would like to show off matching your status. Otherwise there would have been no Porche or Ferrari on the road.
So, to make you part with your hard earned money the seller has to take away all the bads. Now bads would include your apprehension and scepticism, your bad mood (well, you might have had a bad day in traffic before you reached the shop), sometimes even your foul word (god forbid) etc,etc.
You seller must keep in mind (especially in cities) is that there are a variety of customers and has to take proper steps to enchash each opportunity he/she gets.
The first breed is the ones with the moolah and the intent to shop. These customers are hell bent to pick up what they want from your shelves. These are the easiest of them all. Just show them what they want. In the eventuality of you being out of stock the customer would simply walk away to another place to get it. But don't lose hope before they leave the least you could do is to tell them when the object of their desire would be availble.
Tip: you could also give a special offer to them on their next visit.(But of course it depends on what you sell)
Mind you shoppers are suckers for offers and discounts. I mean i remember myself spending Rs.1000 just to get a 10% discount when all i needed was a Rs.400 T-Shirt!!
The second type is one with cash but there is no guarantee on the intent part. Such customers are either in your shop waiting for someone or have come to your shop with someone who has to actually purchase something. Classic examples of such customers are husbands with their wives/kids or both, boyfriends...
Now it depends on you to create a need for them. And by need i mean it could also be created in the mind of a man standing in a lingerie store. Depends on your calliber.
Third and the most common variety is called the browsers. They are there just like that probably because they have nothing else to do. In this case first you have to gauge their interest and deal on case to case basis.
Now this was just an example of how I think i would sell. Its not that i have become Philip Kotler Part II but who knows what my next note would be.. Probably it would have an exahaustive classification of what i feel the customers are like or perhaps about a tiny grain of sand lying on the beach of Jagannath Puri.
Till then i wish myself and all the readers CHA CHIINGggggg......
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