In recent months, a few Social Media agencies in India have shut down their business, and some others have thrived and are doing quite well. Social Wavelength (SocWav) is one of the agencies betting big on the business of brands going social, and they are in for the long haul. I caught up with Sanjay Mehta, Founder and Jt. CEO of Social Wavelength, who along with his partner Hareesh Tibrewala, runs the agency. Over an email interview, Sanjay shared his experiences as an entrepreneur, how he aims to provide value to SocWav’s clients, and a lot more.
The Interview
Q) When and how did you get the idea to start a Social Media agency?
Sanjay: I have been active on social networks for many years. I have also been a blogger since 2004. About 2 – 2.5 years ago, when I was working at Compare Infobase Ltd. and influenced many of the businesses there, going on to Social Media, I could see the bigger opportunity. Of helping any and every business to get these brands on to Social Media. And being a Social Media agency, for that purpose.
Q) Social Wavelength is your second entrepreneurial venture. Prior to that you ran HomeIndia.com for 9 years (1998-2007). You had earlier blogged about how the experience is different the second time around, but what remains unchanged?
Sanjay: The 24×7 entrepreneur schedule does not change, for one 
The hard work, blood, sweat and toil does not change. Many other things have changed for me, otherwise.
Q) Once you got done with HomeIndia, you worked with Compare Infobase Ltd. as its COO for 1.5 years. How was that experience? Any learnings from that stint, the effects of which you think has rubbed off on your second venture?
Sanjay: The experience was excellent. While running an Internet business was not new, I had run businesses of the size of 30-35 people. Then to take charge as COO, of a nearly 1000 person team, was staggering. That I managed to handle that responsibility well, was a huge high. A sense of confidence to work with big teams, to manage in places that were outside of the comfort zone (Gurgaon, Delhi and Kolkata beyond the comfort zone of Mumbai), and to manage newer businesses, and to do it quite well, were learnings of a significant type! These have helped, without doubt, in the second venture.
Q) In recent months, couple of Indian Social Media agencies have shut down. One of them of course is Superchooha, who have been quite transparent about the challenges associated with their business and the decision to move on to better things in life. Are the challenges any different for Social Wavelength? If not, how are you tackling those issues?
Sanjay: Challenges are similar, if not identical. What is different is the age of the entrepreneurs concerned, priorities for each of us at this time, and hence the decision to struggle and hang in, or to go and do different things. Even in identical situations, different people respond differently. No one response may be right or wrong – just that it is different!
In terms of tackling issues, we have created a proper organization structure, to ensure that decision making is decentralized. We are building (at least what we believe is) a good foundation for long term growth, emphasizing on various key elements of the organization. We reckon there is enough business out there to pick up. The challenge, to a large extent, will be in the ability to execute well. And not just on the creative front, but in terms of scalability and processes. We are investing into those.
Q) What’s your team composition and size? Are you looking to hire new candidates?
Sanjay: We are at 60 now. A smart young team (yeah, taking me and Hareesh aside, the rest are smart and young 
) comprising of content writers, designers, creative team, strategy team, trainers, quality check folks, managers, HR, admin, etc. Like a typical organization! And yes, we are hiring.. almost constantly.
Q) Who are your competitors? How do you differentiate yourself from them?
Sanjay: I would not use the term competitors. There are many others who are in the Social Media business, and most of them are friends, even if occasionally, we pitch to the same clients. And every day, new ones are springing up. Aside from the fact that the new ones often pull the pricing down (not that we enjoy fat margins, but the new agencies might often miss the real costs of the business, and may repent later), we are happy to see the industry grow. It helps evangelizing the sector after all.
We do not exactly focus on differentiation with others, but on providing best value to clients, and keep moving up the value chain, to be more and more critical in terms of what we contribute to the client, as benefit. I think that can be the real edge ultimately.
Q) What are your future plans for Social Wavelength? Are you looking to expand to other cities?
Sanjay: We certainly envisage getting to global markets in near future. Other than that, continue to grow. Presence in other Indian cities is not a priority right now, but if we sense a need, we will not hesitate to start offices in other cities.
Company website: Social Wavelength
Sanjay Mehta’s Twitter profile: @SM63
Blogs at- Gray Hair Wisdom and SanjayMehta.me.
February 20th, 2012 → 12:05 am
[...] Social Wavelength: http://bellyonfire.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/sanjay-mehta-jt-ceo-of-social-wavelength/ (Sanjay [...]