Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Social Media In Business ‘09: HBO Asia

At the beginning of the year, one of the things I said I’d try to make a focus of this blog was to talk more about actual instances of business using social media. It’s taken a little while longer that I thought it would, but I finally have my first article, featuring HBO Asia.

I was previously blown away by HBO’s level of personalisation with their outreach attempts, which was really the catalyst for me to meet Karen, Angela and Yin Qi for lunch awhile ago.

What They’ve Done
The first time I met anyone from HBO, was at Social Media Breakfast | Singapore 3 way back in August of 2008. Yin Qi was there and the first casual connection was made. Stemming from that, there was an event for one of HBO’s shows, “Flight of the Conchords“, and ended with a regional contest which was well-talked about.

The Inspiration
When I asked them about who/what prompted the dabble in social media, surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be an “Eureka!” moment, but rather something that grew organically. Ultimately, it all came down to fit: “Flight of the Conchords” is very heavily viewed via online channels like YouTube, they resonate with the younger audience who is online, and the very nature of the show made it the perfect talking point.

Obstacles
From our discussion, the difficulty faced wasn’t so much organising something in Singapore, but organising something regional. This is something agencies should definitely take note of in Asia, because differences between countries within the region can be pretty big, and at the minimum, a basic understanding of that would be added value.

Metrics
As their first foray into social media, it was as much an experiment as anything else, so hard metrics were not particularly the focus. However, they were sufficiently satisfied with the online discussions and conversations to be convinced it was a worthwhile avenue for future efforts. Even though no hard metrics are available, just looking at the YouTube videos produced on the “Flight of the Conchords” blog from all over the region, the comments and the links, it looks like it certainly did not go unnoticed by the blogosphere.

What’s Coming Next
I got the benefit of discovering that a second blogger outreach event will be happening this year, this time for a different show, “True Blood“. Given that I missed the “Flight of the Conchords” event as I wasn’t in Singapore, I’m looking forward to this

What do you think are they key points from HBO Asia’s social media journey? Is it an issue that agencies don’t have regional capabilities as yet? What do you think HBO Asia could do better? Comment away!

Do you know of a company that should be featured on this column? Would your company like to be featured on this column? Comment below or send me an email at uniquefrequency [AT] gmail (dot) com.

Tags: asia, blogosphere, eureka moment, flight of the conchords, hbo asia, social media across asia, social media breakfast singapore, social media metrics, true blood, younger audiences, youtube