Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Is Social Media A Fad?

I was having lunch with one of my professors and he asked “Do you think social media is a fad?”.

My answer was an adamant “no” (I mean, this is my career we’re talking about here).

There are many people who have cynically looked at the evolution of platforms like Friendster and MySpace and Facebook and now Google Plus and think it’s a waste of time investing either time or money (or both) into any of these platforms, because they will eventually change.

By that logic we should have stopped advertising in the newspapers when radio and television came along.

They key that these cynics are missing, is that what is changing is the platform, not “social media” as a whole.

If we peel back the layers to when email and bulletin boards first existed, the main use of the “internet” (not even social media) was to communicate (emails to friends overseas) and share (anything from photography tips to fan fiction on various bulletin boards).

In that sense, nothing has changed. Maybe we don’t email picture attachments of a new baby to relatives halfway across the globe anymore, but you can be sure they’ll see those pictures on Facebook, or Flickr, or Instagram, or Path.

Social media taps into a form of human nature that can’t be changed – the desire to communicate, share and connect.

Maybe there isn’t one central place to talk about comics like an rec.arts newsgroup anymore (hands up if you remember those), but now you can do it on blogs and share links on Twitter and exchange ideas on Facebook and the trend continues.

Once upon a time we may have expressed this nature by clipping out an interesting magazine article and sending it to a friend via snail mail for a one-to-one interaction. Now we look for the one click “share” button on the blog’s website and publish it to Facebook where one share can reach many.

Social media isn’t a fad. It’s evolving to be smarter and more sophisticated and perhaps more importantly, easier than ever before, and in doing do fulfilling out need to reach to people like us to be and feel connected.

What that desire goes away, maybe then social media will fizzle out and die like previous fads like pogs, disco and poofy hair.

Tags: advertising, bulletin boards, email, facebook, flickr, friendster, google plus, instagram, internet, is social media a fad, myspace, newsgroup, newspapers, path, radio, rec.arts, share, social media, social media fad, television

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2012 – The Year Of “Better”

As 2012 begins to roll along in full force, many of us are thinking (or have already thought) about our digital and/or social media strategies in 2011, and how we can improve on them this year.

Let’s face it, since the launch of the iPad and mobile apps, there hasn’t been anything “groundbreaking” the way Twitter, Facebook and to some extent location-based services have been.

So how else can we make a splash?

I think the short answer is “better”.

We need to have better engagement on social networks, better content that matches customer needs, better applications that are more relevant, better analytics to identify strengths and weaknesses, better email campaigns that convert.

They key really, I think, is going to be consistent, constant effort, engagement and interaction with our communities who actually care about our message, and leverage their interest and passion/energy to reach others.

With “better”, we can reach out to people who perhaps haven’t heard of our community and help them become aware of us.

With “better”, we can connect with those who do know us, and begin to build relationships.

With “better”, we can strengthen those relationships that already exist, and create advocacy.

Will you be better in 2012?

Tags: 2012 predictions, better analytics, better applications, better content, better email campaigns, better engagement, build advocacy, build relationships, community, digital strategy, facebook, ipad mobile apps, location services, social media strategy, twitter

1 Comment | Posted in » social media

Top 10 Posts Of 2011

It’s the time of year to share what resonated with you and what didn’t in 2011. As usual some of them are surprises, but that’s one thing that’s really fun and exciting about social media – you never quite know what’s going to pop.

#1 - George Yeo, Aljunied GRC, the Singapore Elections and social media – I’m not surprised this is the most popular post given that this was the first election in which social media had an active role to play.

#2 - 3 reasons why Foursquare should succeed in Singapore, and 2 reasons why it hasn’t – A post made early on in the year when I still thought 2011 might be a big year for location. Sadly, that pretty much fizzled out, though I think the 3 reasons why it should work are still valid.

#3 - Health Promotion Board says “F You” in a tweet, and why it matters – Wow this case study feels so long ago, but still relevant. Can we look forward to a 2012 where these negative case studies don’t feature as often?

#4 – Yet another fake social media campaign – Another case study. I think there were more examples this year, but this one got the public fairly outraged. Again, looking forward to a time when both clients and agencies understand that social media is about being authentic, not fake.

#5 – Campaign tracking for Google Analytics – A “how to” post and one that I’m glad people liked. Struggling to understand campaign tracking was something that bugged me for a long time and I’m glad I finally wrapped my head around it.

#6 – QR codes in Singapore – opportunity or dead end? – Let’s put it this way, I’m a believer in QR codes. I don’t think it should replace anything, but it’s a great option for the segment of your audience that knows how to use them.

#7 – Mobile advertising – where’s the ROI? – Big issue that’s only going to get bigger as mobile gets more and more important.

#8 – You’re only hired because you’re on Twitter – I’m slightly surprised this got the traction it did, with lots of long tail traffic. I think it’s a great reminder for all of us to keep current with the trends that are developing in our space.

#9 – Thoughts on social media and Gen Y in the organisation – I think the Gen Y shift at the workplace is going to be more and more pronounced. Individuals born between 1998-1990 are starting to join the workforce and I think managers are going to be in for a difficult culture clash. How many are ready?

#10 – 3 things I love about eBooks – I think I really fell in love with reading on my devices in 2011, as did many people with their new Kindles and Kindle Fires. Need I say more?

Those were my top posts for the year, and they were really diversified from social media to case studies to how to guides to general musing. I didn’t blog as much as I wanted to in 2011, but I hope that will change in 2012.

Happy new year, everyone.

Tags: aljunied grc, campaign tracking, ebooks, fake social media campaign, foursquare, Gen Y, george yeo, google analytics, health promotion board, mobile advertising, QR codes, ROI, singapore elections, social media, twitter

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2011 Predictions – Hits And Misses

Last year there were 5 digital marketing and social media predictions I made for 2011 and it’s time to look back and see how accurate they were (or weren’t).

1 – Mobile will be more important than ever

I said: Of course, mobile doesn’t just refer to the web but apps as well. It’s no doubt that apps are big business but I think organisations are slowly going to discern between having an app for the heck of it, and having one that really helps contribute towards an objective.

What happened: No doubt 2011 was a big year for mobile devices (including tablets). I think the more innovative apps are still coming out from smaller organisations than the big brands, but one can hope this will change soon. Additionally, it’s still incredibly hard to access many sites on mobile phones, much less try to buy something from them. I can only imagine the millions (billions?) of dollars in missed opportunities here.

Verdict: Let’s face it, a blind monkey could have hit this one. I’m calling it a hit, but the industry has a fair distance to go.

2 – Accountability will be more important

I said: In 2011 I think the results of these experiments are going to be challenged. If we as digital marketers can’t demonstrate the value of our engagement strategy or our email marketing or our social media efforts, those dollars are going to be channeled right back to print, television and radio and we’ll only have ourselves to blame.

What happened: I think the visible effects of this particular trend have gone under the radar in the form of cut budgets and/or personnel or time. Maybe a Twitter or Facebook account is less active than it used to be, or blogs are updated less frequently.

My gut says many organisations haven’t had the patience to follow through with initiatives they started in 2010, or they haven’t figured out how to take it to the next level. Either way, this is still a huge deal with the higher ups of organisations not understanding the returns from social media, and again, that’s our fault for not being convincing.

Verdict: Not enough data to be conclusive, but I think the problem is still there.

3 – Location will grow

I said: Location is still a niche service, but Facebook Places might change that. The question is again whether marketers will be ready to capitalise on opportunities that arise from location.

What happened: Admittedly I didn’t pay much attention to this area, but from what I’ve noticed, nothing much happened. Facebook Places didn’t become the game-changer I thought it might have been, Foursquare has lost a lot of the buzz it had in 2010 and organisations still haven’t figured out how to make local (or hyper local) relevant. I still think the opportunity is there, though.

Verdict: Miss. Whether a result of lack of innovation from organisations or from the platforms themselves, location didn’t really progress in 2011.

4 – Content will be the new marketing

I said: Rarely do we consider buying a product or service without doing some research first. Brands that are able to use content to both humanise themselves and deliver utility will have the edge over those who don’t.

What happened: I could point to a lot of examples of this working this year. I think companies are slowly learning that generating content online creates engagement with their audience. Whether it’s simple content like a Facebook status update or something more complex like a blog post or video, there has definitely been a trend.

I could point to things like the Singapore Memory Project, Nylon Singapore’s interactions on Twitter and Instagram and efforts by Frank by OCBC and special mention to Best Denki on Twitter as examples of this in action.

Verdict: Hit. Not gaining traction on the level I’d like to see, but there’s some positive movement on this front and I think this momentum is going to continue going into 2012.

5) Integration and syncronisation will be a growing concern

I said: From eBooks to documents for work to games to messages to pictures – we as consumers are going to want it to be readily available anywhere, anytime. Will platforms be able to deliver?

What happened: I think organisations involved in the delivery of these products and/or services are realising that this is definitely important. Stuff like Amazon Cloud Reader shows a big step in the right direction, same with iCloud. I’ve personally chosen to make most of my eBook purchases with Amazon instead of Kobo because Amazon’s syncing performance is superior.

The big question: will these services be revenue generators in the future? Or merely the price to be paid to keep customers happy.

Verdict: Hit. If anything, we got more connected in 2011 thanks to various facets of our lives being replicated across multiple platforms and devices.

There you have it. I think I was pretty spot on in 2011, but which points do you particularly agree or disagree with?

Tags: 2011 predictions, accountability, amazon cloud reader, best denki, content marketing, digital marketing, ebooks, facebook places, foursquare, frank by ocbc, icloud, instagram, location, mobile, mobile devices, nylon singapore, singapore memory project, social media experimenting, social media predictions, tablets, twitter, web apps

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The Content Frustration

At a recent social media breakfast, almost all the attendees agonised over how hard it was to get the resources to create content and get others (read: upper management), to realise that content creation (or at least curation) is an important part of digital strategy.

Show them any blog post or article saying that content is important and they’ll say “of course the people you read/follow think so!”

So where are the people who think your website should be a giant “about us” page flooded with press releases?

And why is it when you ask them what’s the last thing they read on a website, they don’t say “press releases”, but insist that’s the most important thing to put on yours?

It boggles the mind.

Bonus: check out this video with CC Chapman, author of Content Rules to get a little more insight to why content creation is important for you and your organisation.

Inbound Now #14 – How to use Content Marketing & Curation for Business with CC Chapman from HubSpot.

[image credit: Cheezeburger network]

Tags: about us, bog post, content creation, content curation, content frustration, digital strategy, frustrated cat, press releases, social media breakfast, upper management

1 Comment | Posted in » Content, Digital Strategy

3 Things I Love About Ebooks

As mentioned in a recent post (Thoughts on social media, ebooks and Gen Y in the workplace), I’ve reading more ebooks recently and wanted to share three things that I really love about them.

1) Synced bookmarks & annotations

There really is something to be said about booting up your reading app and being immediately directed to the “page” you last read, even if you last read it on another device. Same goes for accessing your highlights and annotations across all devices.

I’ve always wanted the ability to flip through a book that I’ve already read and re-read the best parts that I might have noted down previously, with the ability to flip through highlights, it’s finally here.

Oh, and the ability to search within a book is useful too. No more “which page did I read that case study?” accompanied by frantic page-flipping anymore.

2) No waiting

I actually hear a lot about books while on the internet. Either someone mentions a good read in a tweet or I read a positive review in a blog post. Instead of having to wait till I get to the store (which is a rarity with more of them closing), I can download the preview instantly and decide if I like the book enough to buy – also instantly.

Julien has a great observation that this can also lead to starting more books, but not necessarily finishing them:

you naturally get many more unfinished books than you’re used to seeing– that is to say, readers not bothering to finish books. You don’t see the unfinished books at the bottom of your Kindle list, so you never finish them, and the price point means you didn’t waste much. New books on the top of the pile end up being tried out instead of old ones getting finished.

Read more at: The 6 shifts of a Kindle dominated marketplace.

3) Portability

I kid you not, I used to stare at my pile of 5-10 books in the morning and wonder which to carry with me depending on whether I intended to take the bus or train, how much potential reading time I had, if the books were paperbacks or hardcovers, etc.

Now, they all just come along with me, and while waiting in line I can quickly flip through 10 pages and generally clock lots of short bursts on the move. I get a lot more reading done than if I was carrying a physical book.

Bonus: Amazon Cloud Reader

I’m doing almost all my reading on Amazon Cloud Reader because Kobo just doesn’t match up in terms of services (though I love the social aspect of it). The other day I was flipping through a book on my iPad and wanted to take some notes, instead of having to squint on my iPad, I opened Cloud Reader on my desktop monitor and could easily scroll through my highlights and notes and write at the same time. If only I had this in school!

That said, there are still drawbacks to the digital format. I posted 3 things I’d change about Ebooks and digital distribution over a year ago, and the issues still exist today.

There are many pros that ebooks have over physical books, these are just three of my favourites. Amy Leigh Strickland has a fun post 10 improvements eReaders have made on the conventional book – what are some of yours?

[image credit: goXunuReviews on Flickr]

Tags: amazon cloud reader, amy leigh strickland, blog post, conventional book, digital distribution, ebook distribution, ebooks, ereaders, Gen Y, hardcovers, highlights, julien, kindle, kindle dominated marketplace, kobo, paperbacks, physical book, positive book reviews, reading app, social media, synced annotation, synced bookmarks, tweet

1 Comment | Posted in » Books, eBooks

Thoughts on Social Media, Ebooks and Gen Y in the Organisation

I haven’t blogged for about 2 months (which is short in real life but forever in internet time) and have been thinking about a few things:

1) Social media and where it’s going (or not going)

I’m amazed at how it’s practically 2012 and yet the world is actually very similar to how it was in 2008 (when I started this blog). I still have people asking “But why would I want to know what people are doing on Twitter?” – which makes me think we have a long way to go.

I’m also beginning to think more and more that the digital strategist is going to have to be a whole lot more well-rounded than we used to think. By that I mean it’s not enough to be good at social engagement, but also the other aspects like SEO and analytics.

I read in the papers about companies that hire 2 full-time staff to run their Facebook and Twitter accounts, but the true power really only comes when someone can tie it together with search and content. Would love to hear views on this.

2) Ebooks

I’ve read about four ebooks now on my iPad using the Amazon and Kobo apps and I am really loving the experience.

I’ve always thought of myself as an “old school” paperback kind of person, but I am beginning to see the potential in ebooks and I’m not surprised by how they’re taking the world by storm. Doubly interesting for me because I work in the library and this whole “physical and/or digital” book discussion is happening more and more. More detailed thoughts in a future blog post.

[edit: you can now read 3 things I love about ebooks and 3 things I'd change about ebooks and digital distribution.]

3) Gen Y in the organisation

As I talk to more people around the same age, I realise that many “working groups” are formed with people more senior in the organisation, which is totally understandable. Unless you want to actually be progressive.

I get the feeling the Gen Xers and Boomers just don’t quite know what to do with the Gen Y crowd. Maybe they’re even afraid to rock the boat. As “young” as I am, I love talking to my interns about what they are into and what they use because that’s how we stay relevant. I’ve even been spying on what games our student volunteers play on their phones when they think no one is watching.

How are these walls going to come down in the corporate environment? I have no idea. (And yes, I am aware I am grossly overgeneralising this point, but I think it still stands)

I’m looking forward to blogging in force again, thanks for reading and I’ll see you in a week.

Tags: 2008, 2012, amazon app, analytics, content, digital strategist, ebooks, facebook, Gen Y, generation y, internet time, interns, ipad, kobo app, library, mobile gaming, organisation, physical books, rock the boat, SEO, social engagement, social media, student volunteers, thoughs, twitter, where is social media going, workplace

5 Comments | Posted in » Books, Digital Strategy, Gen Y, eBooks, social media

Do What Scares You

I’ll let you in on something – it took me no less than four attempts and months to figure out campaign tracking. Each time I sat down trying to figure the tracking parameters, my mind would go “I don’t understand this tagging! I’m a marketer dammit!”

After getting it though, I now can’t imagine life without it – how would anyone know how well their campaigns are doing without it? I even feel comfortable enough posting about campaign tracking within Google Analytics and Feedburner in some detail.

The other thing I struggled with was goals in Google Analytics. Again the whole “What do I know about custom reports/advanced segments? I’m a marketer dammit!“. After many failed attempts I just set reading the “About me” page to a goal and figured out how to link that to business objectives along the way.

But I have an agency, why do I need to know this?

That might be running through your head right now.

But will your agency volunteer for more work by adding tracking to your Facebook ads when a generic “impressions” and “CTR” report will satisfy you? (The answer is no, and you shouldn’t be satisfied with those two metrics).

You also owe it to yourself professionally to get the most bang for your buck. (Sidenote: I once declined to hire an agency because they didn’t know what A/B testing is. You need to know which competencies are non-negotiable with your vendor).

Additionally, you need to know so that you can validate your results. Whenever someone (an agency, your staff) reports a figure, at least you can minimally run the top line number and know that it makes sense. Better going through the pain of learning than making a bad business decision that could affect profitability based on faulty data.

Why am I telling you this?

I want you to take that step and wrestle with something that has been bugging you straight on. Install Google Analytics, try a Facebook ad, heck just start a Twitter account and follow 10 people. Maybe even start a blog for yourself.

You aren’t going to really (and I mean truly) understand digital marketing and social media until you try it out for yourself. The sense of satisfaction is tremendous.

What have you struggled with to learn? How has it helped your digital marketing mix?

Tags: a/b testing, advanced segments, campaign tracking, CTR, custom reports, do what scares you, facebook ads, feedburner, google analytics, google analytics goals, impressions, marketer, start a blog, tracking parameters, twitter account, understand digital marketing, understand social media

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4 Ways To Help Your Organisation “Get” Social Media

Earlier this month an article ran in The Telegraph titled “Businesses still don’t ‘get’ social media – and it’s 40-year-old marketing directors that are to blame“.

Does this sound familiar?

The limiting factor in the adoption of the internet and social media by businesses is not the technology, it’s the people in charge.

Most large consumer businesses have someone responsible for social media. They are 26 and have a job title like Community or Social Media Manager. Because they are 26 and they work in a large business, it’s difficult for them to change the way things work.

They can see that it’s costing four times as much to get a new customer on TV compared to Facebook, that paid-for search isn’t cost effective, and that the marketing agency is clueless online, but they can’t do anything about it

To be fair, let’s not restrict this to a certain age or just marketing people, it’s a generational mindset that quite frankly, is a plague to any organisation that wants to be progressive and innovative in today’s digital world.

The article got me thinking: If this is true (and I’ve no doubt that it is), then what can we do to help move this mindset along?

1) Educate everyone

Sometimes you’re privileged enough to have bosses who speak the same language, sometimes there’s truly a generational gap and some education and explanation (and perhaps lot of patience) is required before anyone is on the same page.

Have a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly meeting with the team to go through social media 101. Don’t assume what you refer to as “content” is what the other party understands as content – spell it out, introduce an unofficial glossary of terms before a meeting – do whatever it takes to develop a common understanding and language

2) Demonstrate real economic value

To do this, you have to understand your boss and his or her business objectives. If it’s an e-commerce site, you’d need to be able to show how many people converted after your last email/Facebook contest/PPC campaign and how much revenue you got from that campaign, not just the clickthrough rate.

Many times though, especially in the beginning, you’ll be busy easing people into the water. Take a Facebook ad campaign – usually impressions and reach (old world metrics) hit them first (we reached how many people?!). That’s okay. Get everyone used to the idea of buying cheaper (and more effective) ads online, before moving on to end-to-end measurement.

Awesome marketers would show results from multiple ads with different CTRs and be able to show that in some situations, it’s not always the one with the higher CTR that wins. Check out Avinash’s post “Your web metrics: super lame or super awesome?” for a detailed explanation of how to do this.

ps: Avoid the temptation to go with PR value. Please.

3) Use social proof

If you’re doing your job right, some segment of your base will love you and openly declare their love without any prompting.

Favourite that tweet, get a screenshot of the 10 facebook likes you just got, forward an email from a random customer that complimiments your efforts.

Sometimes it takes many repeat instances to get the message through. Don’t give up and keep working on it.

4) Get real and physical

Ultimately, there’s only so much bits and bytes can do, and there’s really no replacement for face-to-face interaction.

The “old guard” is used to handshakes and business cards, not LinkedIn or a retweet. So get your followers together and hold a “get-to-know-you” event and show that they’re real people with real jobs, real families and real influence too (you’d be surprised how often this gets forgotten).

So there we are, my 4 tips on how to deal with colleagues, bosses and organisations who don’t “get” social (yet). What would you add to the list?

[image credit: Barbarian blog]

Tags: clickthrough rate, community manager, CTR, digital marketing, don't get social media, e-commerce, economic value, email, facebook, get social media, impression, LinkedIn, marketing directors, ppc campaign, pr value, real people, retweet, social media, social media 101, social media manager, social proof, the telegraph

3 Comments | Posted in » Marketing, analytics, blogger outreach, mainstream media, social media

Social Media World Forum 2011

For the third year running I’m glad to be partnering with the folks behind Social Media World Forum Asia, held 1 and 2 September 2011.

They’re bringing in the usual big names including a few friends like Bernard Leong and Shalabh Pandey. You can check out the full list of speakers here.

The best thing I can say about the event is it’s the only event I’m still attending (yes, I’ve given up on Ad:Tech), so that should say something about the quality of the event as a whole.

There’s a 15% discount on tickets if you say you’re a reader of this blog (disclosure: no, I don’t get an affiliate fee), so if you need details on pricing feel free to hit up their website or contact me directly and I can connect you.

In the meantime, see you on Twitter with the hashtag #SMWF and please do connect with me over the two days. I’m in need of a jolt of fresh social media and/or digital marketing brilliance.

Tags: #SMWF, ad:tech, bernard leong, digital marketing, shalabh pandey, social media, social media world forum asia, twitter

No Comments | Posted in » Events