Practical tips from Arvinder Gujral, who heads business development for Twitter
When Arvinder Gujral of Twitter stepped on stage at the TechSparks 2014 grand finale, little did the audience know that the discussion on 'Ingredients for global success' can be so tasteful and delicious. Arvinder, who heads business development for the microblogging site in India and South East Asia, has been working for almost two decades in big companies as well as start-ups. Having seen both the sides of the picture and as a key member of Twitter during its journey to global success, he had a lot to share at TechSparks.
Arvinder candidly kicked off his session saying, "I'm not an entrepreneur but I've been a part of many great companies, and some shady companies all over the world."
Here are the ingredients for global success as shared by Arvinder which he fondly put in the umbrella of #Cooking-as-a-theme:
1. Sell #yourself and be the brand
Founders reflect the company. One cannot deny the fact that experiences of what you've gone through becomes a major part of the brand you've founded. Example: CEO of a start-up called DollarShavedClub with no marketing budget crafted a brilliant video which got nearly 17 million hits on YouTube. Of course it took months of work and in the process, any word which didn't add value was edited, but the CEO could do this because he was selling himself as the brand.
2. #Moments are 24*7
Learn to leverage in life with the moments around you. To put things in perspective, (approx) 1 billion tweets are sent every two days which means the same numbers of opportunities are provided by twitter to engage with potential customers. With these moments all around, without meeting in person you're able to exchange the information with mere #s.
3. #RealTimeMarketing
New year, festivals, events, celebrations, awards and so much more takes place every other day. Sometimes these are planned, sometimes they just take over all internet discussions by surprise. If you can create a successful campaign around it, there's nothing like it.
4. #AudienceDelight
Do not miss on giving a great experience to your customers on social media. Sometimes, surprise them, but make sure that they get an answer and an assurance to be heard always. Carlsberg once responded to a young lady's tweet when she asked 'whether to drink or not before catching the flight'. Carlsberg's response was hilarious and responsible at the same time: If you're not the captain, we would say, "Go for it".
5. #BrandToBrand
Feel free to fool around a bit or share some light moments with your peers on social media. These gestures do a good job for your brand and puts up an image of a healthy competition of the industry.
