Deepak Gupta

By Allan Maurer

CLEARWATER, FL – Deepak Gupta, a marketing expert, says he helps clients “aggressively increase brand awareness and consumer engagement” via social media. When Clearwater-based Help My Resume, a nonprofit organization assisting the unemployed hired him, we saw his bio and decided to ask him just what aggressive use of social media requires.

Gupta, Founder of Marketing By Deepak Consulting Group, a social media thought Leader located in California, has created and executed social media strategies for non-profits to Fortune 500 organizations raising brand awareness, user engagement and growing main site traffic.

He has created and executed social media strategies for non-profits to Fortune 500 organizations raising brand awareness, user engagement and growing main site traffic.

So just what is aggressive use of social media?

“Let’s pretend you’re in the Navy,” he tells us. “You’re off the shores of North Korea and it decides to pull out a rogue ship with nukes on board. You can’t just take them on with a destroyer or frigate. You bombard them with the whole fleet: gunboats, aircraft carriers, destroyers, ground-based air attacks. A multiple wave.”

That’s what he suggests to firms executing a marketing campaign.

“Don’t do one tactic in a vacuum,” he says. “Use them all. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.”

So, when he works with a client, he first determines what they want: increased brand awareness or boost market share? Then he says, “Let’s get you a blog, optimize your web page, make sure you’re on Facebook and engaging with your consumers. Make sure you’re on Twitter and following those who follow you. Answer tweets. When you talk to your client base, they’re more likely to do business with you if they know you.”

Make executives accessible

He suggests that if a company has the budget, it should put a team together and look at TV ads and direct mail and print advertising and include social media links on the ads. “Combine it all with banner ads, email marketing. Make sure it all has social media sharing buttons.

“Do as many news worth press releases as you can so you’re featured in media regularly. Help out some large charity and put out a press release. You have to be out there.”

Also, make your executives assessable, he says.

Don’t do what BP did

What he says you should not do, is what British Petroleum is doing. “They’re spending $50 million on an ad campaign that’s too late. If you’re company makes a mistake or has a problem, own up to it.”

BP currently faces a number of Twitter accounts such as Boycott BP that are more active than their own twitter stream, he points out.

As an example, he mentions Jet Blue, which kept passengers on one plane for seven hours waiting for takeoff during a snowstorm.

“The CEO came back and decided to make it up. They gave everyone tickets and publically apologized. They messed up, but fixed it and did it publically.”

Another big wave coming

Gupta says that while the distribution barriers to using social media are low – it can be done from a laptop or even a phone – companies do have to spend time on them every day. “You need to make sure you have teams – more than one or two people – respond to complaints or negative brand mentions.”

Gupta predicts there is another “big wave of social marketing coming just around the corner” and that’s mobile marketing.

“Social and mobile will come together,” he says. “People can access Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on their phones. You can go out on the golf course and check email or social media. You can do it waiting in line or on the subway and keep your productivity high.”

For more tips from Gupta, see his blog.

Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
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Tags: BP, British Petroleum, Deepak Gupta, facebook, Help My Resume, Jet Blue, LinkedIn, social media, twitter