Social Media Strategy Review: Tata Docomo

This review is a part of our 'Social Media Strategy Review' series where we do a 360 degree analysis of a brand's entire social media activity. You can read the reviews of more brand here.

Introduction

One of India's leading telecom operator, Tata Docomo has been revolutionary in kickstarting the per second tariff. It is one of the most vibrant brands out there and has created a unique image of its own with it 'DO' philosophy.

Overall Strategy

Tata Docomo's overall strategy is to resonate with the youth. With it's disruptive communication and youthful updates, it attempts to strike a chord with the youngsters.

It boasts of India's largest Facebook brand page with more than 10 million 'likes'. And also has a highly active Twitter account (which is verified!) it address the customer complaints.

It has a good presence on YouTube as well with more than 7 million video views!!

All of their communication is circled around youngsters, friendships and Doing. But all these numbers come to naught in the face of poor service and outraging customers.

Platform-wise Strategy

Facebook

Overwhelmingly image heavy, Tata Docomo's page has updates regarding anything and everything that is there under the sun. Be it a celeb's birthday or a news update, they talk about almost anything that is interesting out there.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

And it is working out of them when it comes to engagement rate. The usual trend is that as the number of likes increase, the engagement rate falls. But Tata Docomo is doing a good job at keeping it to a good level.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Though I am not sure if such updates can increase their sales or not.

What I saw lacking was the presence of any major Facebook centric campaigns. They do have a nice 'Supersaver' activity going around but it is not being promoted at all.

And their Store Locator tab can do a good job at estimating my location.

Twitter

Strangely, the communication that is keeping their Facebook page vibrant is amiss on Twitter. There's no youthful updates or fun. It is just a platform for them to address their customer issues. And my do they have a lot!

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Other than addressing customer complaints, they hardly tweet anything much. Just 1-2 self promotional tweets that find difficulty in getting some good traction. But with more than 52k followers, they are the largest telecom brand on Twitter as well.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Haven't we heard it countless times that the image should be consistent across all the platforms? Why they have failed to keep it the same on Twitter is beyond my understanding.

YouTube

Another brand, same story. YouTube is a storehouse for their TVCs. But the good thing that works in their favor is that their TVCs are really really funny. And this has ensured that their YouTube community is big enough to boast of 7+ million views and more than 3700 subscribers.

With videos that are hardly longer than a minute, small content length seems to be working a great deal for them.

However, it beats me why they decided to upload this video: " target="_blank">

Comparison with Competitors

Tata Docomo might have the biggest community on social media, but the crown in the offline world belongs to Airtel – one of India's oldest telecom company.

But somehow, a majority of their customers have not 'liked' them yet. With not even 1/5th of Tata Docomo's fan base, Airtel India has an even lower engagement rate.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Airtel has two twitter accounts. Namely, @airtel_presence and @airtelindia

While @airtelindia is basically for branding and marketing, @airtel_presence handles all their customer complaints.

But surprisingly, docomo has more followers than both of these combined!

Also, airtel's communication is very bland when compared to docomo's updates. Oh, and not to mention the overt self-promotion that goes on their Facebook page and Twitter account.

Comments on Docomo's Strategy

More than 55% of Tata Docomo's community is young and is highly engaged. But what is surprising is that 38% of them is below the age of 20 – a not so high spending segement.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

Which means thier Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) will be lower.

But it's a fairly new brand (launched in 2009) and the young consumers of today will be the old loyalists of tomorrow.

And with Ranbir Kapoor featuring prominently in their social media communication, it's only good for them.

Feedback on Docomo's Strategy

While they do have a good engagement rate, their offline services needs serious attention.

This is also reflected in the number of customer complaints they address over Twitter. A lot of people are complaining and the sentiments of their userbase doesn't look much good. Which is not a good sign for any brand.

Source: Simplify360 - A Social Media Analytics Tool

To wrap up, I see Tata Docomo as a fun brand with a great content strategy and can do wonders if they manage to improve their services in the offline world. Because no amount of good content can manage to face an outraged customer.

Analytics support courtesy: Simplify360