[Interview] In coversation with Niladri Datta on LG’s social media game plan

Social media marketing fundamentals for a established brand differ completely from that of a start-up or a smaller organisation. It requires volumes of creativity with a consistent brand voice. Also, comes the added challenge of handling multiple accounts on multiple platforms with embedded brand message.

Niladri Datta, Head, Corporate Marketing, LG Electronics, India gets in conversation with Social Samosa to shed light on the social media game of a brand with a global footprint.

For a brand as massive as LG, how do you maintain a consistent brand voice across platforms? 

We have an umbrella Brand Statement which is, “Innovations for a better life”. All our activities right from our products to marketing revolve around how innovation in LG products simplifies our daily life.

Do you believe that bigger brands should have multiple agencies? Please share your views.

Working with smaller boutique agencies definitely brings in a fresh perspective. We work with a lot of independent digital agencies for a variety of campaigns across our digital assets.

As a marketer what is your objective from social media? Do you use social for lead generation?

We as a brand do not believe in force feeding communication. Users on social media behave quite differently and are not primarily interested in being shown yet another ad. Hence we try to be relevant in social media with our communications. We focus on Service, Support and interesting information around how LG products add value to a consumer’s life.

What is your metrics to measure RoI on social media campaigns? 

We view our social investments in terms of Return On Engagement rather than Return on Investment. It is our constant endeavor to be relevant with right content and hence have a lively social community of LG users.

How has social media changed consumer behavior in the last few years?

Social is a volatile layer spreading all across consumer online journey. It just cannot be viewed separately. India specially being a youth dominated country with increasing time being spent on social networking sites like Whatsapp, Facebook etc makes it critical for brands to have a well thought out social strategy. Users are taking freely to social media to get opinion from friends, voice a concern with brand or to just express a personal opinion about the brand. It matters for brands to be ever listening to social conversations and take a role of friend, guide, expert or whatever is the brand tonality to hijack these conversations and create a positive brand impact.

What trends do you foresee in the space? 

Mobile and Social are the two buzz words that are transforming the world one click at a  time, all the time.  In the coming years brands would want to invest more on marketing automation to have a consistent brand experience and a personalized user experience. A user engaging with a LG OLED TV video on YouTube needs to be treated differently than a user who engages with  a LG mobile phone. Our users are getting more digital savy and we need to ensure that we keep pace.