First Social Media Product Launch in India

Social Media is already the new word of mouth, but it is also fast becoming the voice of brands. Maruti Suzuki will be launching its new car- Swift exclusively on Facebook. This is a first for any major Indian brand, but it is a turning point. Brands are realizing that Social media is increasingly the best way to reach their audience considering the time they spend on social networking sites.

Things are not yet clear if the launch is going to be anything more than a picture unveiled ( which BTW, you can get on internet in plenty anyways). I hope there is some interactive component to the launch.

The power of social media marketing lies in the way it interacts with the audience. Brands can be in sync with their customers. I hope Suzuki do this right and engage their customers. As of now its just a picture and a like button, bu I could think of many ways it could have been made interactive. Contests, test ide bookings and pre launch bookings at some early bird advantages are only somethings I could think of. Newsletter signups with deals later sent to the subscribers enticing them to buy genuine spares. With Suzuki running a huge campaign on TV and other channels urging people to buy genuine spares in an untargeted campaign, it makes more sense to have a marketing system to interact with people on all channels rather than just phone calls by local dealers.

These are just some ideas anyways. Lets see how companies actually tread in the Social Media Marketing domain. In the meantime, this is the page of actual launch.