Emerging Markets are slowing and their divergence is increasing. Yet, they offer immense potential which is worth considering. Each emerging market today is different from each other. While China is going for a managed slowdown, India’s story is extremely positive on the back of reforms and pro-active business reforms from the Government of India.

Did you know?

• According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), developing and emerging economies’ global foreign direct investment (FDI) share increased to 52% in 2013 from 29% in 2007. They overtook developed markets for the first time in 2012.
• In 2007, all the top 20 companies in Forbes 2000 list were from developed markets (US: 9; European countries: 10; Japan: 1). In 2013, 7 of the top 20 companies were from emerging markets (China: 5; Brazil: 1; Russia: 1; US: 9; Europe: 4).
• Developing economies share of world’s merchandise exports increased to 45% in 2013 — up from 34% in 2004. At the same time, the share of developed economies dropped to 51% from 63%.
• Between 1980 and 2000, just 5% of the world’s 500 largest companies were from emerging markets. This ratio is now about 25% and is expected to climb to more than 45% by 2025.
• The real average wage growth in emerging economies has outpaced the wage growth in the developed economies. In the years from 2000 to 2011, the real wages almost tripled in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, doubled in Asia, increased by around 20% in Africa and 15% in Latin America, while the developed economies had a meager 5% growth.

Five things that an emerging market will offer you:

1. Stability of employment:

Many emerging markets are boosting their efforts to grow employment in their respective countries. For instance, in India, the Government recently launched a program called ‘Skill India’ to create skill set ready workforce. The initiative will provide training to over 500 million youth by 2020, to make them employable directly. The skilled population can be assured of stability in their jobs as there is a dearth of employable people in many emerging markets. Additionally, stability comes from the fact that the jobs market in emerging economies are not yet exhausted (compared to some large developing economies) and there is a great potential to leverage job opportunities further.

2. Growth in money:

One of the most important factors that you consider today is growth for yourself. Emerging markets will definitely provide you more growth opportunities than any developed economy. In its April 2015 World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund stated that growth in developing and emerging economies will be 4.3% as compared to 2.4% in advanced economies in 2015. Although the pace of growth has slowed in many emerging markets, they will continue to account 70% of global growth share in 2015. The chances of creating wealth of self are bright in emerging markets.

3. Power to control:

In any situation, you will feel more powerful in an emerging economy as compared to a developed one. There are a variety of reasons for that. First being the size (Nominal GDP) of emerging economies which is smaller than the developed ones. Therefore the span of control is always higher. Secondly, the laws and regulations in emerging economies are not as stringent as in the developed ones. This gives enough room to people with money and influence to have a control over various things. However, this could be a short-lived phenomenon. As emerging economies tighten their regulatory and judicial systems, the ‘power to control’ will be more uniform across developed and emerging economies.

4. An opportunity to be among the global middle class:

Emerging economies will not be only rapidly growing but will also have young populations that will produce a surge of middle income consumers. The World Bank projects that 50% of the total global stock of capital will reside in the developing world by 2030 (up from 33% in 2010), illustrating the shift in the global distribution of wealth. These fast-growing countries will become the prime markets for global and home-grown companies. There is a great opportunity for professionals to start their own ventures in these economies and enjoy the long-term benefits.

5. Opportunity to innovate:

Emerging economies offer a lot of potential for indigenous and cheap innovation. Students who are smart and business minded will find their ways by creating new business models. These students will also be the creators of demand for new products and services. Many incubators have found success in emerging markets as the cost of innovating and failure is less as compared to matured markets.

Threats you need to plan for:

Political issues: Your plans in emerging economies can go for a toss if a particular country (you are interested in) has political issues. In the recent past several emerging markets such as Russia, Ukraine and some economies in the Middle East have witnessed political issues which have adversely impacted the societies, businesses and future prospects.

Ease of doing business: It is not always easy to start and run business in an emerging market. For instance, India ranks 158 out of 184 countries for starting a business in World Banks’s Doing Business 2015 indicators. Individuals who are planning to do business in an emerging market must have cordial relationships with the government and the local authorities for faster implementation of their programs.

Currency fluctuations: In the recent past, currencies of many EMs have fluctuated including that of Turkey, Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, etc. The emerging market currencies are highly dependent on the movement of US dollar and US fed rates. People who plan to do business in the emerging markets must have long term currency hedging contracts to avoid unnecessary loses.

The overall outlook for emerging markets remains strong and promising. Emerging markets such as Latin America and China, which have high trade exposure to the US are expected to benefit, while those reliant on demand from the Euro area will feel the pressure (Eastern Europe, Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa). Additionally the implementation of structural reforms (India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria) will raise business confidence, and encourage stronger investment and consumption. The immediate outlook for emerging markets is positive. IMF expects these economies to contribute 70% to global growth in 2015. EM is also likely to play a greater role in global trade as intra-EM trade is expected to rise to 33% of world trade by 2020. Individuals and students will continue to find solid opportunities for work and do businesses in emerging markets. We only need to find the right target and hit it at the right time.!

Some urban legends never die. The same holds true for quite a lot of false notions and misbeliefs pertaining to MBA. In this article, I’ll try to spell out the top 5 MBA related myths which still exist in the minds of thousands of aspiring business graduates every year. Here they are:

Myth # 1

MBA’s are masters of deceitful non-sense

A non-MBA businessman acquaintance of mine once told me that “manipulation by way of using fancy jargon is only what students are taught at B-Schools.” His opinion epitomizes the mainstream standpoint of people with pitiful ignorance about the course. The thought of explaining him that “Your pre-conceived notion is a subset of monotonically engineered old-school pontificate and an immediate need of paradigm shift is desirable” occurred in my mind but I didn’t say it aloud. On a serious note, I think this commonly perceived idea about MBA’s is terribly misinterpreted. And the usual business jargon time and again deployed by business graduates is often misconstrued as high and mighty arrogance.

On the contrary, lingual geek-speak of a B-School graduate is the culmination of two grueling years of hard-work in various areas of management education. The lingo, which may sound gibberish to a layman is a naturally ingrained ingredient for all management students. In fact, it’s a vital component for many marketers for all kinds of Brand-Building exercises. It considerably reduces the time of communication between two business associates. As far as deceit is concerned, we are all aware that it exists in every profession and depends on the ethics of a person. So, pin-pointing it solely on MBA’s is not a wise thing to do.

Myth # 2

Businessmen/Professionals don’t need an MBA degree

At the outset, I would like to clarify that MBA is not a prerequisite for managing a successful business. However, business education apart from imparting practical knowledge of business principles will help a person become aware of the stumbling blocks on which other businesses have struggled. It is particularly useful for aspiring businessmen who possess an entrepreneurial spirit but lack the analytical skills to undertake calculated risks to upscale their existing business or meticulously draw out and subsequently implement an innovative idea.

I am of the view that real-world business experience and a standard MBA curriculum complement each other very well. If one has prior business experience then he’ll likely derive much more from the course compared to an absolute fresher. The same hold true for working professionals in various fields. The confidence gained from the vast knowledge acquired will significantly increase the chances of success and also reduce the chances of failure for businessmen and managerial executives alike. It will give them an edge over others.

Myth # 3

Soft Skills classes need not be paid attention to

Why do top employers of the country hire say, an MBA in Finance when he can easily recruit a more technically suitable candidate say, a Chartered Accountant/CFA or even a simple post-graduate in Finance/Accounting. The primary reason is that they want a complete all-round package and a B-School is the best place for him to search for such versatility. In addition to the area of core competency, a business graduate is also expected to be an expert written and oral communicator, is adaptable, presentable and has the ability to negotiate on behalf on the company.

But the problem is Soft Skills are still invariably given lesser importance than they deserve. 90% of the students don’t understand its significance in the corporate world. Your technical skills will get you a job but your appraisals and promotions will be supremely dependent on your soft skills. Hard-skills can somehow be learned from books. That’s not the case with its softer counterpart, which requires proper training by specialized faculty who are expert in the domain of personality grooming and business etiquette. Ask yourself. Have you ever met a senior level executive in any organization who has a lackluster personality or a dreary disposition? I suppose not. Because at the top of the corporate ladder, there aren’t any.

Myth # 4

MBA is a short-cut to Success, Money and Fame

A generic belief prevails that an MBA degree from a premium institution is directly proportional to your career growth and the road to a 5 digit monthly salary. Please don’t get lured into the trap of a false sense of security. The confidence that is acquired post-MBA gives you a feeling of invincibility. But unfortunately the feeling is short-lived. I have met students from various B-Schools who are under-achieving professional failures, went into depression and out of jobs.

Always remember that getting MBA education is a great opportunity but nothing will be served to you on a platter. Nothing will be given to you as a birthright. You have to earn it at every step of the corporate ladder. Even an IIM degree does not guarantee success. You will need to consistently work hard and also accept failures as part of the game. The road to monetary success and personal growth depends on how ambitious you are and what are your individual priorities.

Myth # 5

During MBA, your previous educational background does not matter

Right from the selection process of B-Schools (though its perhaps unintentional), the evaluation tests are designed in such a way that it favors students from an engineering background the most. Then, during the entire course, it becomes relatively easier for people from Commerce background to understand the theoretical notions of business related subjects like Marketing Management, Managerial Economics, Financial Accounting and Basic Principles of Business Management. The 1^st two semesters are a piece of cake for them in many aspects. Being a science graduate, I genuinely felt that. It was an unforgettably hellish experience for me.

Then there are experienced professionals and businessmen, who are bound to have an edge over others owing to their practical knowledge of fundamental business concepts. Students who are at a major disadvantage are those who belong to the likes of arts, humanities, law or medicine branches. It can’t be belied that ultimately their grades will suffer because of that. They have to put a substantially extra amount of effort to match their mental wavelength. I, being a plain Science graduate had to face the same kind of problems especially during the first year. But this additional pressure undoubtedly makes the entire MBA journey more intense, dramatic and full of action-packed ups and downs. I am positive that you are going to love every second of it.

So, you want to do MBA after your graduation in another stream. Your decision to go for MBA is hopefully based on your cost-benefit analysis of investing the time and money in the near future versus gaining substantially more benefit in the long term of your life time. The benefits can be in the form of a higher level starting placement involving good company, greater responsibility and bigger package. Ultimately it may lead to faster growth trajectory for career, status, recognition and on the whole superior quality of life, greater job satisfaction and enhanced happiness.

Most students go for MBA based on herd-mentality thinking that when everyone is going towards MBA, I shall also do the same. They don’t do any financial planning or rather they don’t do any planning at all. The talents and aptitude differ from person to person; family circumstances and requirements vary greatly. What is good and appropriate for one may not be the same for another. Thus, one can see that decision making is based more on emotional and social factors than any logical and rational thinking and planning.

The MBA aspirant wants to get qualified and trained to enter the business world. He or she wants to succeed in business career which may be employment or self-business. Let’s consider what is most important in business, and fortunately it is common factor in every business is the way money is handled. All businesses are operated with money as the central nerve system for the purpose of generating more money. Every step in business involves money to be invested. Investment decisions are every day or rather every minute decision. The question is whether money is being invested in business as per well thought out rational plan or based on impulses, emotions and following others’ actions? To take an example, a large company may go for massive television publicity campaign for its products; if a smaller competing company also does the same, it will be doomed. Therefore, it is essential that during the MBA program, besides learning subjects like marketing, human resources, finance etc. the student must at all times keep his focus on learning how to deploy company funds and resources effectively and efficiently towards achieving the overall superior performance of the firm.

Now come to the stage when the individual has successfully completed MBA course and entered professional life. At this stage the person would be required to invest the company funds and also his own personal funds to meeting their respective long term and short term goals. This is the time when the knowledge and grasp in the field of behavioral finance would be put to acid test.

The emerging field of behavioral finance examines psychological and sociological factors which impact the decision making process of individual investors and firms. Thus behavioral finance encompasses the concepts of psychology, sociology and traditional finance.

Psychology involves study of behavior and mental processes together with the effect of a person’s physical/mental state and external environment on these processes. Sociology involves study of human social behavior. It includes influence of group behavior on attitude and behavior of persons.

Traditional finance is concerned with assessing value and making business decisions. It includes functions of acquiring, investing and managing financial resources. Theories in academic finance are called standard finance.

It is observed that investors tend to make some very strange choices. Their behavior deviates from logic and reason. They think as a group and make irrational decisions. They exhibit many behavioral biases which influence their decision making. Some commonly observed biases are explained below;

1. Herd behavior: Investors generally follow what most other investors are doing. If the price of a share is consistently moving up, implying many people buying it, other investors also want to invest in the same share. The belief is that what everyone else is doing must be good and therefore I can indulge in it without applying any financial analysis. Thus investors often buy shares which already had a good run up and are at the peak. When the share price goes down they are left holding it and they want to retain it in the hope of its recovery. Much later they realize their folly when lot of damage has already been done.
2. Overvalue losses and undervalue gains: Investors are more affected by loss in value compared to similar gain in value. For example, if an investor has made two investments of identical value, when one advances in value by ten per cent and other goes down in value by ten per cent, the investor is more concerned with the loss than satisfaction over similar gain elsewhere.
3. Regret bias: Investors do not sell investments that turned out to be declining in value. They hold on to these investments hoping future price increase and break-even. In the process they incur much bigger losses. On the other hand investors are too eager to realize gains. Generally gains signal good investments and losses signal poor investments. The tendency to hold on to ‘losses’ and selling ‘winners’ violates basic of rational investing. The psychology behind such phenomenon is that people are averse to booking losses and thus internally admitting to themselves a bad choice or decision made earlier.
4. The present bias: It implies that investors want to shift good experience i.e., consumption to the present and bad experience i.e., making difficult decision regarding savings and investment to the future. This often leads to over-consumption and procrastination. Investors may be patient while examining two or more future return from investments, but become impatient while examining choices and decisions for the present.
5. Cognitive overload: Human beings have limited mental resources. Will-power and attention are important cognitive resource. In face of uncertainties financial decisions place high demand on these resources and these are quickly exhausted. Under these conditions decision quality suffers because decisions get driven by emotional impulses and short term view of the situation.
6. Power of framing effects: How a situation is presented to an investor might have major impact on his decision. The format that looks most informative and thus best suited for a financial expert may not help non-experts to arrive at good decision. For example, the quarterly balance sheet published by firms in newspapers is hardly of any use for general investors. Another example can be in the style of presentation by insurance firms and offers for new shares. Often only selective information arranged in a particular way is presented to investor who may get misguided and make inferior decisions.
7. Overconfidence: As human beings we overestimate our own abilities and skills. We have a tendency to forget and thus we fail to learn from our past mistakes which compound the problem.
8. Theory of cognitive dissonance: It states that people experience anxiety and internal tension when exposed to conflicting beliefs. Individuals try to reduce their inner conflicts either by changing their past values, beliefs and opinions or they try to rationalize their choice.

In summing up we can say that it is important for the MBA aspirant to understand behavioral aspect of financial planning and decision making. It would help him to make better choice of MBA College and course, depending on ROI rather than getting influenced by friends and other people around him. He would not just base his decision on the advertisements; rather will look far into the future. Also, since going forward he would be taking up managerial and senior positions in the corporate world; he is expected to understand how his behavioral aspects are impacting his decision making for the firm. It would help him make rational decisions which are in the best interest of shareholders.

 

Is India even a country? It’s not an outlandish question. “India is merely a geographical expression,” Winston Churchill said in exasperation. “It is no more a single country than the Equator.” The founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, recently echoed that sentiment, arguing that “India is not a real country. Instead it is thirty-two separate nations that happen to be arrayed along the British rail line.”

But the history has changed and a country which was known as the land of magicians and snack charmers only a few years ago has emerged as a most important business destination today. It was just because of impractical policies of rulers, the country has suffered a lot. It started with ideals of non- alignments post-independence and then tilted towards socialism. The country which needed capitalism most to eradicate its abysmal poverty, moved towards socialism under the falls dreams of sharing benefits equally among all countrymen, where were no such benefit existed or to be generated.

Due to all such experiments, the country came to a halt in 1991 and grappled in a crisis. It had no sufficient foreign exchange to cover its important and hence, had to mortgage its gold to Bank of England. It was a low moment for India. The lesson was learnt the hard way that socialism will not help anymore and it will have to take a paradigm shift from the existing mechanism. The Indian economy was opened thereafter and it started migrating from socialism to capitalism.

After that historic move in 1991, India is an $ 8 trillion economy (on PPP basis) today in 2015. Due to steps taken in the right direction, it has successfully lifted millions of Indians out of poverty. This would not have become possible, had it not adopted globalization and encourage trade and investments. Today, India has emerged as one of the most important business destinations in the world. Everyone wants to be here in India and it is said that 21’s century is India’s century. Here, I have discussed some of the key opportunities which can attract any businessman towards India.

Opportunities

1. Huge market size

India is a country with population of 120 crore plus people. This makes it one of the largest consumer places in the world. And out of this, approximately 40% population is from middle class.This middle income group is rising as poor are entering into middle income group and existing middle class is moving towards higher income group due to growth of the economy. Given this fact, it is very difficult to ignore this population and its growing disposable income for any company. India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and it is expected to rank amongst the world’s top 3 growth economies and amongst the top 3 manufacturing destinations by 2020.

Further, the reality is that the growth in the western countries has become stagnant or is slowing down due to combination of variety of reasons. Hence, it has become absolutely necessary for any company to have presence in India to generate their next phase of growth.

2. Strategic location

India is strategically located in the South East Asia. The products manufactured in India can be easily supplied to neighboring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar etc. The beauty is that these countries are also not developed yet and can be new markets. Further, there are some “homogeneous markets” in this region like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India. Considering availability of infrastructure and other resources, it is easy to serve these markets while having presence in India.

3. Availability of resources

India has pool of abundant resources which are available at comparatively lower prices.

• There are approximately 50 crore people in India which are from working class. This makes it one of the largest countries with such a largest manpower, just next to china. And this workforce is increasing by 1.2 crore a year.
• The majority of this work force is young, which gives advantage of “demographic dividend”. Due to this, India will have a largest pool of young people, even surpassing to China.
• Availability of strong technical and engineering capabilities backed by top-notch scientific and technical institutes. India produces largest chunk of English speaking doctors, engineers, accountants, management graduates, teachers etc in the world.

4. Infrastructure

Though India is lacking on infrastructure but it is improving with focused efforts in this sector. It has some advantages like large railway network, reasonable air connectivity, and improving road connectivity. Further, India has a coastline spanning 7516.6 kilometers, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. It is serviced by 13 major ports, 200 notified minor and intermediate ports which facilitates majority of trade. It is also important to note that India is also endowed with rich mineral resources.

Challenges

However, there are some areas of concerns. In a recent World Bank report on ease of doing business, India slipped to 142th number. This is not a good score at all and indicates that there is lot to be done. There are certain challenges which make it an unattractive business destination. These are..

1. Uncertainty of policies

Uncertainty in business freaks. Foreign business community finds it very difficult that policies change overnight in India with the change in the government /authority. Due to uncertainty on certain taxation issues, resource allocation, land acquisition etc has sent wrong signals in the international investor community. It is necessary to ensure a stable regime to encourage trade and investment in the country.

2. Corruption

India ranks 158th in terms of ease of starting business in India, according to the recent World Bank report. One of the major factors affecting business sentiment is omnipresent corruption. Am sure, all of us at some or the other time would have experienced it. It is more prevalent in the government functions but is also somewhat visible in private sectors. India ranks 85th among 175 nations on perceived corruption index, according to Transparency International, the global watch dog on graft and abuse of power. This is detrimental to foreign investment as foreign business community is not able to build trust in the system. The governments need to focus on transparent and clean administration.

3. Unnecessary and old laws

Some of the Indian laws have become laughable. These outdated laws have lost their relevance in today’s modern era and have become a tool to collect bribes. And hence, the same need to be repealed. Recently, the government has identified some 100 laws which are old and burdensome and is considering repealing them, which is a welcome move.

Conclusion

In spite of all these challenges, India is a place to be in 21’s century. The sheer size of market, growing income, availability of resources etc. is compelling factors for foreign companies.

For India, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. At this juncture, all factors are in favor and if India catches up this growth trajectory, then no one can stop it. But if it misses this growth momentum, then there will be few possibilities to move millions people out of poverty and it would be a country of poor people for a long time again. Let’s hope that with the new government in place, India catches up and works towards investment friendly measures to make it more attractive business destination.

Note – T he above article has been written in personal capacity and does express employer’s views.

AGE is not a barrier to learn. I chose this topic as there are many people who think that after certain age they cannot study and so they give up. It spoils their career and constraint them from growing. It is human psychology that after age of 25 one cannot study as a person has many household responsibilities and he need to do well in that. Traditional mindset is that once a person starts earning, he/she only needs to concentrate only on work and effectively manage household activities. Is the traditional thought which is going on since long, True? To get more clarity on this we will try to figure out what Age is? How does it impact on an individual’s life?

Age is effect of time on a person. Certainly as and when a person gets older he/she physically becomes weak and they can feel the impact of being old. As and when time pass person gets more responsibilities and they gets more inclined towards it. Single handedly managing many things brings them into more stress and cannot concentrate on personal development. They gets surrounded by complexities of life and gets less time to think about future and growth prospect linked to the same. They need to take care of their spouse, family and society and fulfill responsibilities towards them. In this course they don’t get time to learn and enrich themselves with knowledge. Learning and getting knowledge is equally important as other responsibilities because if they don’t do so their career gets constraint from growing and at one point of time they get stuck.

“Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.”

Learning is defined as the social process of construing and appropriating a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience as a guide to action. One of your most treasured values is the love of learning. Learning is something that impacts nearly every facet of your existence, every day. You should constantly learn new things, or refresh on existing knowledge. Even when you are not learning, you should apply skills or knowledge on logic problem in a puzzle book, in order to exercise your mind. Without an individual’s drive and desire to learn he/she would have never, so it is very important to have constant desire and motivation to learn. Learning new information, such as history and social science is vital to our evolution as a civilization. We must learn from our past, our societal flaws, and our behavior in order to become a better individual. The individuals that ignore or resist learning opportunities become mentally good for nothing.

Those who cannot or will not stop to examine, study, and analyze the world around them seem to have little or no ability to apply any form of analysis upon them, thus may not achieve a level of self-actualization. Those without any motivation to learn seem to lead a unconscious existence. They appreciate things less and hence are more socially awkward, are more likely to be fearful or prejudicial against things they do not understand. As a result they are less emotionally fulfilled, but they cannot understand why. It is common to say that ignorance is bliss, but from what I have seen that is only illusion, because those who are ignorant, lack the self reflection necessary to understand how unblissful they are. It is true that knowing hard truths can make people depressed, angry, frustrated, but not knowing keeps you in just a vulnerable or dangerous position without the benefit of knowing what to expect or how to prepare.

Henry Ford once said “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

Importance of Learning:-

1) Personal Development – Learning helps in enriching knowledge and knows more about current affairs. This helps in personal development which is very important for an every individual. Personal development includes activities that help improve awareness and identity, develop inner talent and potential of an individual; it also builds human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations.

2) Career growth – If an individual keeps on learning than it helps him to grow in career and attain zenith in the same. Career Development is the lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions in order to move toward a personally determined and evolving desired future.

3) Self Actualization– A theory of Human Motivation, Maslow explicitly defines self-actualization to be “the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for an individual to become actualized in what he is potentially. Constant learning can help individual satisfy his self-actualization need.

4) Confidence- Constant learning makes a man confident on its own as he is aware of many things which are going around the world. Confident person works well and always be happy and do away with stress and negativity.

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

There are many examples of business tycoon who studied after being settled in career, in order to grow and attain zenith in their field.

1) Ratan Tata {Chairman of TATA sons} – Ratan Tata studied in Mumbai at the Campion School and completed his secondary education at the Cathedral and John Connon School. He completed his Bachelors in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962 and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975 when he was 38 year old. Is 38 years too old to get a degree?

2) Kumar Mangalam Birla {Chairman of Aditya Birla group} – K.M. Birla has B-Com degree from University of Bombay & holds and professional degree of Chartered Accountant. After completing CA he joined business after sudden death of his father. After completing few years in business he went to London for masters. He also did his MBA from London Business School UK.

Learning is a continuous process and the true learner always looks avenues to learn from anybody and everybody. There is no bar on learner’s age or the age of the teacher. A young child can teach you something which you may have not learnt till now. Similarly, every old and poor man can teach you something very important.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m too old to learn”?

Did you believe them? I hope not.

There are many people in their 50’s and 60’s going back to college to earn their degree. At that point in their life they are probably doing it because it is something they want to accomplish. The likelihood of improved earning power is no longer the motivating factor.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be academics.

Keep Learning and keep growing, you are not old to stop learning. You should always feel young when you want to learn something.

“Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching”

Once you embark upon your MBA journey, you transform into a would-be manager who prepares for formal responsibilities and corporate entry which requires special learning to take up managerial tasks and decisions. Interestingly, the two years of MBA are like an extra life in the game which serves as a break from regular work for already working professionals whereas it serves as a boost for mere graduates and enables all to live another four days towards self improvement and development.

Management Gurus suggest 4 stages in a product’s life cycle that are extremely related to the life of an MBA graduate and have ample scope for application and learning. This very concept can help you to get feedback for modification, planning etc and help you find alternative routes to perform better and change your role in the corporate. During each semester you would be required to be consistent with the efforts and dedicated towards specific goals attached to it for an excellent result. Focused action and efforts towards your goals will make your MBA experience successful and worthy.

Pioneering or Introduction Stage
At the beginning of your journey, your competition is low and time is available in abundance for socializing etc. The schedule and habits you develop here will have a long lasting impact because right now you have lack of knowledge as to how the stream of management is, how things work, professors are and how grading is done etc. You might even face difficulties as to the methodology to be adopted for studying or understand the requirement of your professors in their interaction with you.

This is that part of MBA where everyone is trying to cope up; needs friends to interact with; grades tend to be average or low and there is an acute need to understand and adapt to the system, rules, policies, guidelines and the institution. Here you need to strengthen your basics. While your awareness is your goal, the introductory stage demands patience as return on effort seems to be negligible despite of low competition. The keys are: being innovative in your approach; learning time management and increasing your study-hours and study-nights. Remove all deficiencies in yourself by attaining extremely comprehensive knowledge while giving time to social life. Remember you can learn by sharing knowledge even with your competitor.

Growth Stage
By this stage you get a tentative idea as to what subjects you like; what are your strengths and weaknesses; people approach you for guidance in your strong subjects and you also help reciprocate; competition increases, resulting to the need to boost in your efforts. The focus should be on deep penetration into existing favorite subjects and improving on weaker subjects. Sometimes major improvements need to be made with respect to the methodology being followed regarding academics. Again, changes may take a toll on your time but benefits remain high. This initial investment reaps long lasting benefits. You need to explore newer channels of knowledge like existing PPTs and case reviews. A basic image of you is already created which may be required to be changed or maintained.
In the second semester the motive is to increase the grade point as well as secure an internship for oneself which is in line with your favorite subjects and passion. This growth stage is about maximizing ground knowledge increasing grades, investing considerable time in self study and countering increasing competition. Remember to attend all important lectures from industry experts; doing assignments and projects yourself and attending seminars.

Once you have your internship, realize it as a practical chance to learn in the real world corporate scenario in advance. The internship project you will make after this process, speaks volumes about your work, knowledge, understanding and contribution which is a better feedback than grades for your real worth and learning.

Maturity Stage
As the name suggests, in this stage you need to be mature enough to make your choices regarding correct electives and stream. What you choose today impacts the entire life. At this stage the academic competition will reduce and you will be comfortable with extended work hours. You would have realized your real potential with respect to grades and your focus now has to be on performing the best possible in the electives chosen by you. You can clearly choose between the beneficial and the futile.

You will be differentiated from the common lot of students as you would choose subjects that form a part of the requirement for your potential or dream job. Take up sales and distribution if you like selling. Since you have time for yourself here, you have opportunity to work on your soft skills and body language. You can earn credentials by participating in the inter college competitions in the field of your specialization and add your achievements to your resume as your strengths. Networking is crucial along with efforts to increase general awareness and having an idea and view on the state of the economy.

At this stage your interest will seem at its peak but you still would require learning the implementation of your attained knowledge. Reach out and gain maximum knowledge and don’t worry too much about grades.

Decline Stage
This is the second chance to choose electives when you can again add new knowledge tributaries to yourself. At this stage you have to plan for your placement and understand the market and company’s requirements. The competition in academics would shift to placement. You need to socialize; use your networks and reduce wastage of time. Think and direct your resources to better use. Brush up your basic concepts and make attempts to increase your general awareness.

Attend and learn from mock interviews and prepare well for group discussions. Remember no matter how tempted you get, never accept a job you don’t like. The decline stage is actually the beginning of a new cycle called corporate life which will make you financially independent. By the end of the fourth semester you must have your priorities on mind such as career plans, financial plans; growth plans etc and must work on them since you are no more a teenager but a well read person.

This is an idealistic route to MBA journey which may not be applicable in all cases because each person is different from another. Hence, I would sincerely suggest you to make your move wisely and benefit the most.

Graduates from various streams like science, arts, commerce and engineering take up MBA course in the hope of achieving better career and greater success and happiness in life. MBA course covers subjects like marketing, finance, human resource management and international business as per its syllabus. The course includes seminars, group projects, outdoor activities etc in order to inculcate team working and enhance personality.

The knowledge and experience gained through MBA programme do not necessarily lead to achieving fabulous career and highly satisfying life full of joy and happiness. The fact is that unless basic fabric of inner thought patterns, instincts and emotions in life undergo an upward shift, the external targets of highly successful career and inner joy and happiness cannot be achieved. Let us call all the desirable traits as positivities and all the undesirable traits as negativities. Each one of us has within one-self embedded deep in personality large number of positivities and negativities in different proportions.

Typical examples of positivities are compassion, integrity, empathy, attentiveness, commitment, equanimity, generosity, discernment, gratitude, hopefulness, humility, kindness, patience, perseverance, serenity, honesty, self reliance, optimism, modesty, discipline etc.

Typical examples of negativities are aggressiveness, hatefulness, meanness, revenge, arrogance, unempathy, fanaticism, intolerance, jealousy, immorality, skepticism, conceit, irresponsibility, pessimism, mercilessness, selfishness, violence, boastfulness, rudeness, dependence, destructiveness, inattentiveness, covetousness, laziness, falsity, etc.

Positivity can be defined as the quality or state of being positive; something that is positive. Positive here means something that is desirable and leads to good of all concerned. The significance of inculcating positivities is not always fully realized by professionals. In brief we can say that the type of life a person may lead depends totally on the extent to which positivities (and also negativities) are ingrained in his psyche. These are often in the form of instincts, emotions, attitudes, habits and the thought patterns ingrained in the conscious and subconscious minds. Fortunately, it is possible to inculcate more and more positivities and eradicate more and more negativities by personal conscious effort. However, these are deeply ingrained characteristics and may require tremendous effort, patience and perseverance.

This aspect is not covered in MBA syllabus and requires personal initiatives and determination on the part of individual. There is no better time to take up the quest of self transformation than during the MBA course. However, once begun this process of self refining must continue as life-long endeavor.

Importance and benefits of inculcating positivities must be understood. Positivities help you cope with responsibilities of day to day life with comfort and ease. It leads to strengthening of interpersonal relationships and helps to reduce worry, anxiety and stress, thus leading to enhancement of physical, mental and emotional well-being. It would lead to greater joy and happiness and create more fulfilling life. One is able to inspire others and gain respect of colleagues, superiors, friends and family members. In short it gives you tremendous energy and inner strength to soar very high in life. Positivities lead to healthier people with low probability of heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc.

The key question is how can we enhance positivities and minimize negativities. There is no simple one step method though there are large number of small steps one may take, which jointly may lead to desired result. Some of the important steps are explained below:

1. Meditate: Meditation is an extremely powerful technique. There are many techniques of meditation, the simplest being Vipassana meditation. It involves sitting in a comfortable posture, closing your eyes gently and mentally observing the breathing. As you practice meditation on a daily basis, the number of thoughts emanating in your mind would reduce progressively. You would become tranquil and calm and develop mental focus of very high level. With a calm mind, nothing is impossible for you.

2. Practice Gratitude: Most of us ignore what life has given us and we are restless for something which we have not achieved yet. If you start writing the things for which you are grateful, you would be amazed. For example, you have good physical and mental health, you have a decent home, loving and warm interpersonal relationships, good job, opportunity of meeting people and going to fascinating locations etc. There is no need to feel jealous if someone else got the post you were hoping for.

3. Read and reflect ideas from good books: There are large number of very good books which one can read and reflect on ideas there in. These contain wisdom and experience of authors conserved for posterity. It would be foolish not to utilize this resource.

4. Develop habit of journal writing and note at least three positive aspect of your life each day: We gain many experiences during the course of a day. It is always helpful to jot down these experiences for future reference and introspection.

5. Avoid highly negative people: In life we meet many people each day. Some of them carry lot of negativity which is reflected in their behavior and actions. If you stay with them for longer periods, some of those negativities you may ingrain as these are contagious. So, try to stay away from such people as far as possible.

6. Control your thoughts: Thoughts are generated in one’s mind randomly i.e., good and bad all types of thoughts come up from nowhere. One may think we have no control over generation of such thoughts, but it is not so. Whenever a negative thought appears in the mind, consciously introduce positive thought in its place. Over a period of time you would increase the proportion of positive thoughts getting generated in your brain.

7. Use role models and mentors for faster growth: Role models are those people whom you look with awe and would like to emulate. Observe them, read about them and try to explore their thoughts, emotions & habits. Mentors are generally senior people who are willing to help with their own knowledge and experience. It would be naive not to make use of their guidance for self development.

8. Use affirmations to charge your subconscious: Once you have some good ideas which you want to fully ingrain in your subconscious mind, the method is simple. Make some displays in the form of pictures or written statements and put it in places which you are likely to see often. Affirmation involves statements which you tell yourself when you are in calm and relaxed state, so that these go directly in your subconscious mind. The basic principle is that of repetition. When you repeatedly get an idea, subconscious mind gets charged and your behavior gets modified.

9. Take up yoga: Yoga has great power is well known. It provides flexibility & strength to body parts and also leads to calming down of body & mind to such a level that it becomes receptive to new ideas. A restless mind will not be fully receptive.

10. Live in present with mindfulness: Life is lived only in the present moment. Past is gone and cannot be changed. Learn to let go the past as soon as it is gone. Do not carry past grudges, complaints etc. Live with mindfulness i.e., with total participation in the present moment.

If you want to live happier life, developing positivity should be your first motto. A happy life can be achieved by growing spiritually, emotionally and mentally. Live with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. Your self confidence would go sky rocketing.

Everyone wants to be successful in life. Each person desires to be healthy, energetic, stress-free, having warm and loving inter-personal relationships, be prosperous and achieve recognition, status and glory in life. However, in real life most people achieve very little in these aspects. They live life that is stressful, entangled with complex interpersonal relations, lots of frustrations, irritations and anger. The general feeling appears to be that they are suffering due to actions of other people and adverse circumstances.

The golden truth is that we all have full control over our lives. We can make our life what we want to make it. There is a small book titled “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen. The book was written about one hundred years ago and is freely available in PDF format on the net. This book is as relevant today as it was then. The basic message given out by the book is that a person becomes what he or she thinks.

The key question that remains is ‘how to generate positive thoughts of health, prosperity, love, joy, happiness and warmth in your mind at all times. Our mind generates thoughts of all kinds at random and we don’t know a system or method to control these thoughts. The truth is that these thoughts are not truly random; rather these are based on beliefs, instincts, emotions and attitudes which are embedded deep in our personality and we don’t know how to modify these.

Our mind comprises of two minds. One is conscious mind which allows us to deal with day to day situations that we encounter in external world. Conscious mind operates with a simple logic, analysis and expectations. The other is subconscious mind which is active and awake all the time and it directs our thoughts and actions in external world based on what is programmed into it.

The subconscious mind programming starts right from the time of birth. This programming is generated by experiences of various kinds over a long period of time. These experiences are from family members, relations, schools/colleges, media and society etc. During college days as we learn the concept and significance of subconscious mind, we also want to change the embedded programme to our advantage. New programming can be done or existing programming modified through the process called ‘hypnosis’ which may be done by hypnotist, guide or self.

Hypnosis literally means a procedure in which suggestions are given to subconscious mind during a state of focused awareness. Hypnotic process implies a person in deep quietness and ideas are suggested. Self-hypnosis is a process of hypnosis which is self-induced and it utilizes the concept of auto-suggestion. Self-hypnosis makes one become highly focused with heightened susceptibility.

Hypnosis can be put to bad use or good use. When a television advertisement is shown repeatedly, sometimes three or four times in a single commercial break our subconscious mind registers the ideas. Some people use their hypnotic powers to make people do things which those people would normally not do. Thus unscrupulous people enslave the will of other people. It appears that hypnosis is a mystical state which can be used for mind control and brainwashing. Though such negative connotations are observed and displayed in some films, hypnosis is an extremely powerful tool which can be used to overcome psychological, emotional and some physical problems.

Let us look at good uses of hypnosis. Psychologists use hypnosis in the treatment of physical, emotional and behavioral problems. Self-hypnosis can be used to modify behavior, emotions and attitudes. One can overcome bad habits like smoking, addictive drinking, overeating and even habitual occurrence of irritation, frustration and anger. Thus it is useful in reducing stress and tension in life. When an idea or image gets impressed on the subconscious mind it eventually manifests itself in real life. Thus, by the power of thought one can achieve any objective in life which is important. One can use self-hypnosis and power of mind to modify limiting beliefs, and be successful and wealthy, develop truly satisfying relationships and acquire sparkling health etc.

Tremendous potential of creative abilities can be developed by tapping the subconscious mind. Self-hypnosis is the method of accessing the subconscious mind and charging it with ideas & affirmations need for fulfilling your objectives. The objective may be to become wealthy, lose weight or to quit smoking etc. The subconscious mind works with whatever it is constantly fed from the conscious mind. If a person thinks of ill-health all the time, the subconscious mind will cause to manifest ill-health in his life. Contrary is also true. If a person thinks of sparkling health and tremendous energy all the time, the subconscious mind will manifest these in his life.

Self-hypnosis can help a person to stay calm and relaxed, develop better concentration and focus, and feel more confident. The process of self-hypnosis is simple and generally involves two distinct stages;

1. i) A meditative state in which the mind is totally calm and external thoughts are excluded. This is often achieved by securing a quiet environment providing relaxed posture and body condition and focusing the mind on breathing (as in vipasana meditation) and a mantra i.e. any non-religious word or phrase (as in transcendental meditation).
2. ii) When mind is quietened from external noise and has become free of random thoughts, it is ready for charging of specifically prepared thoughts and ideas. The key word here is repetition. The charging of thoughts and ideas is done through a script which is repeated several times. For best results the practice must be continued for long periods.

The steps generally followed for self-hypnosis are as follows;

Create a non-negotiable time slot when you would not be disturbed by another person, telephone or external noise. Sit in a comfortable posture. Put on some soothing light music. Take five deep breaths holding for five to ten seconds each time and slow exhalation. Close your eyes and think each inhalation brings calm and relaxation and each exhalation takes away stress and strain. If the mind wanders bring it back to focus on breathing. Now lie down in a relaxed posture with face up and focus your attention at each part of the body from toe to head progressively. Imagine relaxing all muscles in your body and feel the entire body totally relaxed like an UN-stretched rubber band.

Breathe normally, be aware of your breathing and mentally repeat statements like;

• I am becoming healthy and energetic
• I am full of joy and warmth
• I am becoming calm and confident
• I have abundance of wealth
• I have tremendous concentration and focus power
• I am successful and famous

Repeat these statements mentally 10 to 15 times slowly, keeping full focus on breathing and the thoughts. Some people make recorded audios in their own voice or in the voice of their teacher or guide. They play the audio and it guides them through the entire procedure. At the end slowly press your eyes with your palms and gradually open your eyes.

Self-hypnosis is extremely powerful technique and one can achieve all that is important. While using self-hypnosis to make changes one must do it with enthusiasm and excitement. Select goals which are important to you and are difficult but attainable. Over a period as you achieve your current goals keep raising the bar and aim higher and higher. Know that you are unique and you have all the powers of the universe dormant within you and for you sky is the limit.

It does not matter whether you are a student, professional or retired, it is important to understand that self hypnosis is the key to better life, so why procrastinate – Learn it now.

Tough all my blogs begin with talking about my personal experience. Let me first take you through a story of a man who is a legend.

One afternoon for a regular meeting I was driving on NH18 towards Delhi, bugged with the monotonous songs in my USB, I plugged in to the radio. Tough I am not a target customer of Hindi Speaking media market, still got convinced after hearing Anu Kapoor on air and a minor nostalgia of childhood memories of his show saregamapa, so decided not to change. In his ever same energetic and positive tone, he was narrating a story of a man who is a legend now. Someone who is a legendary actor now with the numerous awards in his kitty was when he was a struggler, after leaving his hometown marine drive was his shelter for endless days. A vetenor director called his voice extremely bad quality and recommended him to get rid of the thought of getting into films. He didn’t buy that, with a do or die attitude he kept auditioning and almost auditioned for over 90-100 films. He managed to get a break with the salary of Rs 500 and today Mr. Bachchan is worshiped for the contribution he has made to the Hindi film industry. Imagine if from Allahabad he would not have managed to abscond and run away from the thought of his dad wanting him to an engineer, we would not know today what Amitabh Bachchan is all about and I am sure there would have been a few more in existence today if they would have managed to escape from the boring regular reality and taken a leap of faith in what they once aspired to be with confidence.

We do hear stories from our parents regarding what they wanted to be. My mom tells me her dad didn’t let her study after twelfth class, as in her village that time girls were not allowed to study in college. I asked her back, what if tomorrow i might have the same regret after when i will see myself stuck in the corporate cobweb. Not again, I am out of it and quite much supported by my mom now. But I have agreed to one thing we just can’t be introspecting all the time that how unfit we are in what we are doing currently as this does not get us out to what we want to do. We need to probably think from the prospective of what we want in life and start working towards it. For some, earning lots and lots of money would be the main aim which might give them satisfaction, for some a different job role than what they are doing would be a satisfaction point. One needs to make a choice right. All those people get stuck at one point in career who didn’t plan by choosing the right academics or job role for them and when are actually plotted in a job role which they end up getting they realize where their ultimate happiness lies.

Problems are everywhere. There is no story barring Ambani’s and Tata’s which are written without regrets and issues. I am sure they might have a battle they would be fighting in their own manner. We all think that we will simultaneously work on what we want along with our regular work where we do not see ourselves deemed fit in. But that is not what the nature supports. We need to get out of a particular career/course/profession to get into something what we want. I do understand that these decisions are tough to actually incorporate as lot many have loans to pay and lot many have family to look after. But as they say trying to sail two boats together results in sinking of both. We do the best in what we love to do. If someone loves to make clothes, no matter what ever amount of time you make that person spent around embroiders and fabric, he will not feel tired and agitated. But if you make that same person sit in front of laptop and make him do some work he is unfit for, he will end up just looking at the time with every second that passes by. Eventually, if we fit into the space that we enjoy we grow personally and so does the place where we are working.

Sooner we realize what we want to see ourselves as, the better it is. It is easier to quit college and get into another stream than dumping a full fledged job and finding way to what we want to be. I see a lot of people in sales, who joined the sales profile with a hope they will be offered marketing profile latter. Today they are stuck in sales for years and if offered the marketing profile they are paid as a fresher irrespective of whatever experience they carry and what money they are paid in past. They are stuck in a choice between money and job role. Obviously, sales profile is paid well as it comes with the tons of pressure. Before making choices in career, it is OK to join the profile of your choice at a lower package than beginning as a fresher latter. As I said, we need to get out of something to get into something and sometimes the bridge between the two can have lots of hurdles. But as its one’s right to work on what we love to and not have regrets latter in future. Take that leap of faith without any second thought. Remember, you do the best in what you are meant for.

Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are all

 ‘User First, Brands Second’ services.

The brands are all over these services now.

But for the most part, these services didn’t do much to bring them.

The engaged users did.

-Fred Wilson

Social media platforms, like Twitter, have empowered customers and provided brands with an alternate access to their markets.  Smart brands are aware that today’s online world is dominated by people who, in turn, may be potential (or existing) customers. Adam Denison, one of the Chevrolet’s main PR guys, says the reason they are on Twitter is – “People especially love to talk about their cars: good or bad.”

The reach, ease and personalized nature of rewarding customer interaction permit the growing popularity of brands.

79% of the surveyed Indian brands rely on agencies for their social media requirements for implementation and roll out of campaigns, according to the E & Y study.

“Brands that want to participate in Twitter need to be committed & be part of the community. This is not advertising” cautions, Paula Drum, VP of marketing at H&R Block.

Twitter is essentially a short message communication tool. We are allowed only 140 characters to convey our message to people who subscribe to us. Some companies welcome the challenge, while others find it tricky. It is worth it, however: almost half of the frequent Twitter users follow brands online. It’s a market which a brand can build and nurture. Twitter marketing has impressively increased brand awareness and a loyal customer base of many traditional and upcoming companies.

TV Guide, who is well prepared for the crazy pace of breaking news, credits Twitter for quadrupling “to 15mm unique in 2 years”.

Best Buy uses Twitter “to help facilitate communication, collaboration and community among our user base. Also to be human and be available.”

The Travel Channel doesn’t believe in overloading the readers with irrelevant information. They only publish what they feel will be valuable to their audience.

Pop Cap, the company behind the popular game Plants and Zombies, found it best to lose the business lingo on Twitter and show everyone the real people behind the brand.

Twitter is invaluable to Dunkin Donuts. Since its brand strategy primarily involves listening to its customers, the social network has made it possible for the brand to collect authentic feedback in real time.

A former barista has taken the Twitter helm at Starbucks and steered the brand onto the screens and into the hearts of millions. Brad Nelson uses tools like Twitter Search and Tweetdeck to manage the Twitter load. Tweetdeck shows you everything you need to see at once, be it trending topics, searches or replies.

Comcast, on the other hand, acknowledges that the expanded operations are responsible for its good load management. The company has multiple Twitter user ids – @comcastbill, @comcastgeorge and others- to log in at the same time.

TWITTERING YOUR BUSINESS

Let’s discuss, how you can get tweeting about your business:-

BUILD

Choose a username wisely, get an account and fill out the profile section to completion. Provide information about your brand. Who are you? Where can the readers find you?  Present a brand story. Use customized visuals. Maintain consistency across all online platforms to aid identification and build trust.

IDENTIFY

Use Twitter’s advanced search to find potential customers who live or work near you.

FOLLOW

You can subscribe to read what others choose to share by following them on Twitter. The social network can scan your email address book and help you find people who you may want to follow – customers, professional contacts and even competitors. Some of your followers will even follow you back.

Note: Twitter has a strict policy against aggressive following so go a little easy on the ‘Follow’ buttons.

TALK

Now that you have spent some time observing, listening and joining a few conversations, you are comfortable enough to send out a tweet of your own. You are ready to talk.

Come up with a communication plan. Strategize your Twitter chats. Promote your business in a way that appeals to your audience. Tweet out discounts and deals to keep your audience hooked.  Focus on what they would like to hear. Complement your tweets with photographs and videos to show people what you are up to and what your product can do for them. Be prompt with your replies. These messages are public and, therefore, can help you better engage customers.

DIRECT

You can use Twitter to drive traffic to your corporate website or blog. You do this by accompanying the links with compelling introductions. Position URLs in the middle of your comments; experts claim this increases the chances of your link being clicked. Twitter tools offer a URL shortening tool, which uses only the first 20 characters of any web address and yet, the end result is a functioning link. This can come handy given the 140 character limit.

INTEGRATE

Place the Twitter Follow and Tweet This buttons on your website and blog. It is important that your readers feel that the content is worthy of a retweet. You can embed tweets into blog posts and you can also share a tweet timeline on your pages for more exposure. Twitter sends push messages to your smart-phone when people mention you, follow you, favorite a tweet, retweet or send you a direct message (DM).

ORGANIZE

You can group your followers using Conversation Lists into customers, potential customers, community businesses, trade organization, etc.

Separate timelines will display tweets for each list. You can keep these lists public or private per your choice.

EXPAND

A hash sign (#) followed by a unique identifier on Twitter makes up what is called as a Hashtag. This is done to identify by topic or shine light on a particular characteristic of a tweet. The hashtag pulls all the tweets linked with that hashtag into one huge conversation. Use a unique hashtag for your brand. This allows customers to find you, and you to keep tabs on brand-related conversations.

MEASURE

You will have to analyze your web presence and performance at regular intervals. Engagement can be adjudged by the number of click-throughs, retweets and favorited tweets. Analytical tools like Buffer and Twitter Reach can provide a more thorough evaluation.

Building a Twitter community takes time as does any branding or marketing exercise. You must focus on building trust. Keep your audience engaged and updated on what you are about. Write honest recommendations for your business contacts. Don’t forget to place your brand’s twitter id on all your marketing collaterals. In fact, integrate all marketing attempts so as to retain the same look and feel. Embrace innovation. And most importantly, experiment with marketing strategies to get a clearer picture of what works best for your brand.

Go forth and tweet away!

Contributed By : Ankita Verma (Class of 2009, IBS Hyderabad)