A confluence of ideas emerge at the ‘International Conference on Social Media Marketing in Emerging Markets’ organized by WeSchool, Bangalore

Discussions and debates on emergence of social media marketing were kick started at the ‘International Conference on social media marketing in emerging markets’ organized by Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool), one of the leading B-schools in India, in association with Academy of Indian Marketing (AIM). The conference was  a two-day summit of marketing professionals from industry, distinguished academics and researchers and political strategists to share their experiences, debate on various facets of social media and study in depth its impact on the community. The conference seeked to enhance participants’ understanding of social media and develop models and methods to enhance effectiveness of marketing in emerging markets. The conference scheduled on 25^th and 26^th July, 2014 at ITC, Gardenia, Bangalore was inaugurated by Prof Dr.Uday Salunkhe, with the keynote address by Nishanth Rao, Country Head, LinkedIn. Leading academic researchers from B-schools as well as those from corporate firms from across the country and marketing experts  presented  sessions as well as  papers discussing the best practices adapted by them.

While setting the tone of the conference during the inaugural session, Prof Dr.Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool said, “The social media boom has established this medium as an imperative part of a holistic marketing strategy as it has proved to be hugely beneficial for businesses for reducing costs, improving customer services, creating an online personality and the same has been widely accepted globally. However, new businesses and entrepreneurs in India have not started using social media to its fullest potential. By hosting the international conference, WeSchool endeavors to build, strengthen and deepen awareness on social media usage in India, by engaging leading social media experts and academicians. Social media industry in India is still in nascent stage and WeSchool foresee opportunity for society, businesses and MBA graduates to effectively use social media tools for growth”

Dr. Jagdish N. Sheth, Charles Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University shared his views on this occasion, “Today’s marketing where marketer is in charge of its brands will be displaced by marketing where the user will be in charge of a company’s brands. The potential of the collective power of more than two billion people daily engaged in informing and influencing one another through social media is beyond our imagination.”

The inaugural was followed by sessions with Mr. Sanjeev Bickchandani, Naukri.Com, Mr. M. Janakiraman, Bharat Matrimony, to discuss how social media platforms can be used effectively to address key social issues. Mr. K. Ganesh, founder, Portea Medical and Mr. Sanjay Mehta, Founder, Social Wavelength brought on table strategies to leverage social media tools to build a successful company and exit strategy.

This two day conference was designed to provide an understanding from industry experts on the fundamentals of how to strategize the social media marketing initiatives and network with ease; develop contemporary ways of acquiring new customers and increasing the impact that one makes on potential customers. The various discussion themes of the conference ranged from how social media can be utilized in the B2B space, spiritual space, governance and policy-making and political campaign.

With participation from countries like USA,Canada,Saudi Arabia,Abu Dhabi, Sweden,South Africa,Turkey The conference had around 50 shortlisted research and conceptual papers being presented over 2 days by  academicians,MBA students and corporate scholars from Dell,Cognizant,IBM,Genpact,Infosys ,LLC many others.