Ideas Maverick Blog by Preetham Venkky

Just a few days back, there was a rumour doing the rounds about Steve Ballmer (CEO, Microsoft) getting stage time at the upcoming Apple WWDC 2010. Though it was just a rumour from an unverified source, the news had hit leading technology blogs on the internet. Several news publications carried the story too.

Traditionally, under such circumstances, companies involved would issue an official company press release. But in this particular case, Microsoft decided to do it differently. Instead of issuing a press release, they decided to use PR 2.0 practices and issued a light-hearted tweet from their official Twitter account instead.

I’m going to put my money on more companies increasingly replacing their official press releases with simple responses to rumours and other web related controversies / conversations. Welcome to the new age company press release. Not only does this set the record straight, but it also expedites the process of getting the word out as quickly as possible. It also becomes a point of reference helping bloggers and news agencies get an official source. I for one, enjoyed the humour brought out in Microsoft’s tweet.

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Bulk SMS has found commonplace in the marketing mix of most companies. Every local business, from restaurants to retailers to insurance agents use this as a mass marketing ‘solution’. With costs as low as 3 ps (Rs. 0.03) per impression, the net expense to reach a target audience of a 100,000 is a meagre Rs. 3,000 ($ 60). I personally receive more than 20 advertising / offer messages on a daily basis, but the one which dropped by most recently caught my attention.

SeventyMM is an online movie rental service with operations in Mumbai, Delhi and its headquarters Bangalore. I was a one-time customer but decided to move my subscription to Big Flix due to lack of good titles to choose from. This means they have my mobile number and probably have my permission (though cheated into using fine print) to send me messages. But the audacity of the message was hilarious. Its content read something like this:

You are the ‘CHOSE ONE’ Get 3 months Unlimited subscription @ Rs499 only and Also Get DVD Combo FREE worth Rs1299 sms RENEW to 57570 or call 08060600070 T&C

So, let me get this straight! I (and based on the language, only I) am the ‘CHOSEN ONE’ to get this special offer. How can you bulk message your former customers and fool them into thinking they are all the ‘CHOSEN ONE’? I would never like to do business with an organisation which takes their customers to be fools. Oh! come on SeventyMM, we can all see through your ruse. ‘CHOSEN ONE’? Why not just get rid of it from your SMS all together; you would’ve at least walked away with a little dignity. So, if I’m the chosen one, along with your discounted membership, do I get to have superman like powers of Neo.

A little bit of digging and I realised they have a lame Twitter profile too. @seventymm Except for a few egotistical broadcast tweets, there was little to show for in their timeline. What shocked me further was the use of Katrina Kaif (not related to SeventyMM in any manner) as their display picture. What were they expecting? A sudden spike in their follower count because they used a leading Bollywood actress as profile image. If it were anywhere but India, they would’ve been sued for misrepresentation. By the way, I wonder if Katrina Kaif or her manager are reading.

While such meaningless strategies are commonplace, I would’ve definitely expected more from a company which is primarily conducting their business online. Social Media Marketing strategies are increasingly becoming effective, you just need to add intelligence to the mix. I could probably help you create one pro bono.

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While plenty has been written about how you can create a great Twitter background, very few have been written on how to create an elegant background without the tweet timeline obstructing the view. Creating a Twitter background can actually be a tricky affair, thanks to the various screen sizes now available. Before the launch of wide-screen monitors (or desktops and laptops alike), users had screen sizes to choose from. There were 640*480, 800*600, 1024*768 and 1280*960 variants available. With the advent of LCD/TFT/LED display technologies, computer screens have been growing at an unprecedented rate. My favourite still remains the latest iMac 27″ from Apple; with a screen real estate of 2560*1440 pixels, this is one huge screened computer. Introductions of larger screens has widened the range of screen sizes from the narrowest at 1024*768 to the widest at 2560*1440.

Your Twitter Background on a 27″

Ever wondered how your Twitter background would look on a massive screen? Try it at your closest Apple showroom and I’m sure you’ll be disappointed. Oddly repeated images, if you’ve selected the tile background option; or a lone cornered image if you haven’t. How does one optimise? While the solution is quite simple, few people actually realise it. The steps mentioned below, take you through a simple process of creating your very own customised Twitter background for your profile:

Step 1: Width of the Twitter timeline = 763 px (on any screen)
Step 2: Width of scroll bar = 15-17 px (always)
Step 3: Total max. width = 780 px (max.)
Step 4: Left free space = (ScreenWidth – 780)/2

For a screen width of 1024 px, Step 4 would yield 122 px as result; while for a screen width of 1280 px (more common in recent laptops), Step 4 would yield 250 px as result. So what does it all mean? Well it means if you want to be safe, ensure that the main image (Logo, Photo etc.) in your twitter background image is not wider than 250 px and is placed in the top left-hand corner. If you want to be really safe, ensure the main image is not wider that 120 px. Height of the image should never exceed 550 px. Now that you have your canvas, feel free to get creative within the space, which would mean you are restricted to the height more than the width.

Meanwhile, if you want to tile (repeat / loop) your background. use the above measurements to sensibly cover the free spaces on both sides. This is an option I would never recommend for professional brands or organisations.

Quick Facts

Safe Size = 250*550 px (for wide-screens)
Super Safe Size = 120*550 px (for old screens)
Do not tile the background image.

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It started with a blog post against Cafe Coffee Day, by an aggrieved customer and as all things powerful, moved onto some classic bashing online. In this case, a typical social media frenzy on Twitter with the hash tag – #ccdsucks taking on new life. It’s even gone upto the extent of creating an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @CCDSUCKS with a defaced logo for a profile pic. One can only assume it was created by the loud and active tweep @AmolMathur considering the only conversation mentioned there was about his rank as a tweeter on 90di. Trying to get your 15 tweets of fame using a topic which is not equally represented is both unfair and in bad taste. But let’s get down to the facts at hand and represent the issue from both sides:

Tweeps at CCD

If anyone’s been to the Cafe Coffee Day at Ispahani centre in Chennai, you’d realise that it’s a store with very high foot-falls. This would put pressure on the store staff to cater to an ever-growing customer base. I personally think it’s unfair to keep other customers waiting only because you’ve ordered a Latte and seem to have a four hour agenda. I’m only making such assumptions because the blog doesn’t seem to be unbiased and we haven’t had a statement from the other side (Cafe Coffee Day or it’s franchisee). Lack of statement doesn’t mean admission of guilt.

But having stated the above, I think rudeness from a staff is unacceptable under all counts. People are reasonable and if the manager had put forth his point reasonably, then such a backlash could’ve been avoided entirely. Adding to this, there was the lame expectancy of a ‘cover charge’, something that doesn’t take place in any Cafe Coffee Day anywhere. I think such issues can be best avoided if all parties involved can behave gently, diplomatically and honestly; which the tweeps seem to have conducted themselves but the same wasn’t forthcoming from the store management. Taking this a step further, I would’ve expected tweeps to have handled the situation with more maturity:

1. They should’ve protested and tried to reason with the Manager
2. Not bluntly deface the CCD brand
3. Clearly state their dismay and their ‘feelings’ regarding the issue
4. Put forth a sane and practical demand (an apology for instance)
5. Welcome any kind of apology or dialog from CCD

Cafe Coffee Day

Well, clearly they seem to have offended a few customers and that is unacceptable. I do appreciate them getting to the bottom of the issue as quickly as they have, and apologised to the aggrieved parties involved. It’s not everyday that a company accepts their fault and tries to resolve the issue amicably. But clearly, things got out of hand and continued to do so for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the last tweet from Cafe Coffee Day stopped at 12:40 pm on 05 Feb 2010. I would’ve expected a more active participation and it would’ve served them better if they had followed the three As – Admit, Apologise & Act. CCD should’ve handled the matter using the following means:

1. Contacted the franchise and interviewed Mr. Shiva
2. Published the interview and admit their fault (if any)
3. Immediately, publish a blog post with their side of the story and action taken
4. Actively respond to all tweeps using the #ccdsucks tag with their twitter apologies and blog post
5. Conduct pt 4 in a quick timely fashion
6. Try to steer the conversation from #ccdsucks to #ccdresponds

One of the primary reasons #ccdsucks has become a trending topic is because of the lack of active presence of Cafe Coffee Day on twitter. Their incapacity to steer the conversation from #ccdsucks to #ccdresponds  (or the likes of it) seems to have cost them dearly.

Conclusion

#ccdsucks issue does seem to have gone out of hands. While the mob frenzy seems to have stir a storm in a coffee cup, it was clearly uncalled for and completely misdirected. Considering their presence on Twitter, Cafe Coffee Day could’ve done better by actively (and constantly) responding to the issue by steering the conversation away from #ccdsucks to an alternative.

Photo Credit - Karthik Narayan

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