I wanted to blog about this last week but in the hassle of packing and flying it slipped my mind until I was listening to a Jaffe Juice podcast while wandering around New York today:
Blogging is not about planting magic beans and expecting beanstalks to sprout up. Your blogs are probably not going to affect activation on a large scale for weeks or months! You’ve got to work at this. You’ve really got to work at this. So if you’re not planting those seeds right now, and you don’t have a plan to grow and promote and nurture and join a bigger conversation, then really what are you doing?
I first thought of this while walking past the Raffles Place train station and saw the Xbox/Sheylara poster I’ve been hearing about over the last week. Think about it: to move from a social media channel (a blog) to getting paid mainstream media publicity at one of - if not the most - heavily trafficked train station in Singapore. How does this happen?
With lots of hard work and patience, that’s how.
And that’s the one thing you should keep in mind when you’re blogging or dabbling in social media, be it as a company or brand or individual. You’re not going to make a hit overnight, but if you stick with your passion, you just might.
The earliest archives I can see on Sheylara’s website is December, 2005, but I have no idea if she was blogging before that. In other words, at the very least it took almost two years to really get established in the Singaporean blogosphere and established enough to be picked up by a big company like Microsoft.
There are probably many more reasons, but I can think of at least three that have contributed to this success outside of just “working at it”.
1) Being relatively focused on a niche.
Be it posing with guitars, talking about the latest Xbox games, pictures of she and her friends playing Rock Band and Gamer Girl Fridays, there’s no doubt that Sheylara is one gamer girl. Heck, when I was trying to tell a friend that at least one person in Singapore is playing Rock Band, I showed him her website. She doesn’t blog only about games, but there is a consistency in it that is hard to ignore.
2) Reaching out beyond offline interactions
I also previously blogged about Sheylara “cold e-mailing” to offer her help when we first started Social Media Breakfast | Singapore. I don’t think that got her the Xbox Xpert role per se, but it probably helped people sit up and notice that this is someone to be taken credibly in the local blogosphere. And as we all know, credibility is everything.
3) Being absolutely professional
Unlike certain other female bloggers I shall not mention by name, Sheylara always deals with her detractors with a touch of humour. In fact, I think more often her community are the ones who fight fire with fire. (The company parallel here is letting your antibodies work for you) Again in the social media space, there’s little to no tolerance for bitchfits. Either you can work things out like adults, or you prove to the world you never mentally graduated from kindergarten.
On the flip side, I give absolute credit to Microsoft and their agency for what they have done in this space. One, for moving into the space at all. Two, for selecting a good choice, and three, for taking time to determine that this choice is the best for them. I don’t think the Xbox Xpert happened overnight, but it was a relationship and mutual effort that was slowly worked on and cultivated, as I mentioned in a previous post. Let’s note also that the three points about Sheylara’s efforts online easily extend to a company like Microsoft too.
Again I emphasise that this is an effort that literally can take years to work. I’ve been blogging seriously for about eight months and still haven’t passed the 100 subscriber mark. You just gotta keep telling yourself you’ll reach it some day.
Maybe I should blog about something else for a year and get some company endorsement deal eh? Just kidding, I probably couldn’t tear myself away from this blog if I tried. Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a picture that can act as a metaphor for whatever your brand, company, or individual blog is trying to achieve.
(Full disclosure: Sheylara is a friend of mine and we work together on Social Media Breakfast | Singapore. I also do not know the exact details of the Xbox Xpert deal, but am commenting on the process as an observer of the social media space)
It was really nice to see yesterday that of the 10 most popular posts on ping.sg, three were about SMB:S2, even though it was three days after the event!
As always, I think it’s great to have a central “collection” point for all the media generated around the event, so here’s the rundown:
Video: Social Media Breakfast 2.0 by Miccheng (ps another video on Geek Goddess TV should be out June 4th!)
Without doubt the podcast of the month for April goes to For Immediate Release which I usually have problems keeping up with (it’s released twice a week, one hour each), but the content for April was excellent and I found myself listening to it first among my podcasts.
Live call in show #5 highlights: How should companies reach out in social media without offending the people in it? Great analogy of standing at a party table and interjecting about insurance while they’re talking about something else.
#338 highlights: Kami Hyuse Seaworld case study and talk of the virtual internet
#339 highlights: Dan York & Sallie Goetsch take over. Lots of Twitter news and I have a comment left via Twitter!
I have to say, hands down, if you’re doing anything in the digital/social media space, you need to be listening to this podcast.
Other notable listens this month:
Inside PR #106 - Live episode with a great question “Who owns the social media space?”
Marketing Over Coffee - “Captcha and Turk“, lots of stuff on startups as well as a whole slew of Wordpress plugins I never knew about.
Shill #6 meandered a little this month, but still a worthwhile discussion about whether there’s any value in re-posting news.
Six Pixels Of Separation #98 (interview with Collin Douma), #99 (very interesting, almost counter-intuitive information regarding online reviews) and #100 (long conversation between Mitch, Brian Eisenberg and Avinash Kaushik).
Did you listen to any of these podcasts? Are you listening to different podcasts? I’m always on the lookout for great social media related podcasts, recommendations always welcome.
Second social media event in two days (the other being The Open Room by Ogilvy), is none other than Podfire’s soft launch at Geek Terminal. I came armed with my camera because Michael says I don’t post pictures!
What Is Podfire?
Podfire is a network for local podcasters/videocasters to come together and basically run their shows. Issues with hardware? No problem. Just come with time and a remarkable idea, Podfire will do the rest. The first two shows to be launched are Blogger’s Treats, a show featuring blogger’s favourite food haunts (featuring Sabrina and Daphne) and The Geek Goddess show, centered around web and tech happenings in Asia (featuring Estee and Peter).
How Were The Episodes?
I must say the episodes definitely impressed me in terms of quality and post-production. Having dabbled in videos myself, believe me when I say it’s hard work. Pacing was a little iffy, but hey, we’re bloggers, not TV hosts!
The Event
The event itself was pretty good. As usual I met a ton of people. Shannon for the first time ever, the aforementioned Daphne, Claudia, and Nicole for the first time in person and people who are by now “regulars” like Nadia, Michael Cheng, Jean and Ridz. As a new blogger, it’s all about meeting new people and forming new relationships for me.
The Aftermath
I gotta say I’m giving serious thought to entering the podcasting world with Podfire. My biggest issue is that my niche is covered so well in North America that it would be a great challenge to differentiate. Gonna have to think about it over the next week or so.
The second thought I have is that I’m getting closer to cementing my thoughts that social media may not be primed to work in Singapore despite our great infrastructure, lack of a language barrier, high internet penetration rate etc. I’ll probably blog about that tomorrow.
Thanks for reading and before you go, check out the two inaugural episodes! (As usual, Wordpress is giving me issues with Vimeo videos, so click on the links at the top of the page!)
Coming back to thoughts from the IDC Conference, one topic of debate was whether advertising on blogs is okay and whether it sends the right kind of message. Let’s look at it both from the corporation and from the blogger’s point of view.
The Blogger Point Of View.
I personally think third party advertising (ie Nuffnang, Google Adwords/Adsense) is okay. You’re not directly endorsing whatever they’re advertising, just making use of your internet “real estate”. And just like the real world, if you have prime real estate (ie high blog traffic of the right demographics), then why not make some money out of it? After all you’ve worked hard to build that brand and/or community and adding value, no reason why you shouldn’t reap some reward.
What I do have issue with if going straight for advertising. Starting out blogs with the intention of selling space or drawing attention to your 125×125 boxes that you’re willing to sell at $15/week or whatever. It makes me question the validity of the blog and if I should worry about whether you’re telling me A is better than B because A is in one of the 125×125 boxes.
I’m going to condense this with the issue of trust. I haven’t had companies approach me with incentives in return to review stuff. One thing I did opt in for was Joseph Jaffe’s Use New Marketing To Prove New Marketing campaign, where I receive a copy of Join The Conversation and post a review in return. (It’s coming soon). I think that’s fine for three reasons:
1) It’s directly in my niche
2) Jaffe doesn’t ask for a positive review, just an honest review.
3) It’s clear that I got the book for free and I’m reviewing it in return, as opposed to when I plug books that I paid money for.
I think as long as people know that there was a sponsorship involved, they’re fine with it. The big issue is when they’re misled. Then the backlash really comes. For example if I took Jaffe’s book and said it’s God’s gift to marketers/PR agencies/advertisers/the whole world, but didn’t tell them I got $0.10 for every book sale that comes from me, that will hurt me when it comes out. And believe me, it will come out. (That said, I am not making money from Jaffe’s book in any way)
And as a blogger I’d treat any similar “freebie” the same way. I’d be happy to take your product and give it a spin, but the fact that I had that privilege, is not going to colour my review or thoughts either way.
The Corporation’s Point Of View
Many businesses don’t look to bloggers to get their word out yet, because they’re worried about control. What if I give the blogger A and he says A sucks. Well, it comes with the territory. If you don’t give the blogger that product, someone else is going to pay money for it and blog that it sucks anyway. The fault is the product, not the message.
I think the most important thing is not to come across as a company who wants the same thing every company wants (even if you do). Because bloggers will know. A great case study which happened in the US, but could well happen anywhere, is the GM sponsorship of a Manic Mommies event, as covered in CC Chapman’s Managing The Gray. It’s a lengthy case study and you should listen to the podcast to get the full story, but essentially they didn’t say “Here’s $30k, do what you want but plaster our logo everywhere”.
No, they listened to what the Manic Mommies needed and focused on finding the common space where they can add value and build relationships, which really is what this whole space is about.
Ultimately, this space is new and is ever-changing. But trust, transparency and reputation will always be important. The method of doing your advertising online, who you approach and the results may vary, but you have to do it right. Not just “right” in terms of achieving the right metrics and ROI, but right in the proper way that values people and relationships, which will pay for it self many times over in the longterm.
This is late so I’m going to jump straight into it. My choice for the March podcast of the month goes to Six Pixels of Separation for the interview with Seth Godin in #93. I also listened to #94 - #97, and #97 is the episode where Mitch talks about Social Media Breakfast: Singapore, so you might want to check that out as well.
Other podcasts that I really think you should check out:
With that said I also enjoyed Shill’sthoughts on SXSW coverage happening literally everywhere else, and how that feels from people not at the event. I really felt their point of view because I was one of those people getting bombarded non-stop on Twitter about SXSW. Probably something everyone will have to figure out for the next event.
Joseph Jaffe also weighed in on the SXSW coverage and Intellagirl’s challenge in Jaffe Juice #107 as well as facing outward from the fishbowl. An observation which I think is spot on.
Two new podcasts I picked up are For Immediate Release which comes out so frequently I can barely keep up but some good, thought provoking content in there, as well as Inside PR, whose discussion on ethics in PR to be very enlightening in #103 and #104
As always I am open to any and all suggestions for new podcasts to listen do. Just drop me a comment! While you’re at it, why not check out the podcast of the month for February and January as well?
February was when I really expanded my podcast horizons and picked up stuff other than Six Pixels Of Separation and Jaffe Juice and my winner for this month goes to:
Picking on grandma isn’t as negative as it sounds, but rather serves as a reminder that companies need to develop user-friendly products. (Grandma can use an ipod much easier than some other MP3 player because itunes syncs everything)
Introduction of two useful Facebook apps (I’ll be showing one tomorrow).
My other nominees:
The Lost Initiative - I almost picked this as the winner because the discussion is so quick flowing. I think the British might just be less rambly. Ultimately, I decided the winner should be social media centric, so it’s a very close #2.
Jaffe Juice #104 - for the weigh-ins on 10 relationships vs 5 million impressions and also for mentioning that advertising is actually anti-cyclical to economic conditions, something that I don’t think companies grasp very well.
Special mention goes to the Hack College videocast #16, where they actually explored the idea of Twitter being used as a warning system in a school shooting. I draw parallel to wondering what would have happened if Twitter was used during 9/11.
One thing I really enjoy about Web2.0 is how you can meet and connect with people so easily, even when you don’t have any intention to.
Case in point? Adventure #1.
I was driving home listening to Six Pixels Of Separation #89, when I heard a distinctively Singaporean accent in an audio comment on Apple. So I got home, checked out the show notes and got to Sui Generis, Derrick Kwa’s website.
A little probing around later, I realised that I should get into direct contact with Derrick because he’s an Arsenal fan, clearly has a thing for marketing and new media and even has a post on the same JJ Abrams video at TED that I posted about awhile back.
In short, as mentioned so many times in social media discussions, Derrick is an example of “people like me”.
As a result Derrick is now on my MSN, we’re mutual friends on Twitter, and followers of each others’ blogs.
Now, this whole story has a point. I’m not trying to tell you about the serendipity of Web2.0 and that you’re going to find a soul mate online.
What I am saying is that the internet has so many people interested in so many things (literally anything) and you can very simply reach into that Long Tail, find your niche and find one person or a handful or many people who are just like you and share your common interests and/or passions.
So now you know this, what’re you going to do about it? Or do you already have similar stories to share? I want to hear from you!
Adventures in Social Media #2 will be coming next week, with some implications for this blog. Keep reading.
Admittedly I didn’t listen to many podcasts in January, but I’m still going to do this for the month, and there are a few conditions:
I must have listened to the podcast in January (regardless of when it was actually released)
The selected podcast can be the most entertaining/informative/educational. Anything goes.
So the winner for last month goes to Jaffe Juice #101 for an excellent Winners and Losers segment covering the whole Scrabulous fiasco by Scrabble and Mattel, as well as Target’s blatant disrespect to the blogging community. On top of that, it was this episode that motivated me to take part in Joseph’s UNM2PNM (Use New Marketing To Prove New Marketing) initiative, where he sends me a copy of his latest book, Join The Conversation, and I provide him a review in return. Sounds fantastic? It is.
There’ll be much more nominees for February (I’ve already listened to about 10 podcasts so far), so keep reading for that, or if you’re feeling nice, why not subscribe to my RSS feed to make sure you don’t miss it?
If you agree or disagree with my choice, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below, and alternatively, if you have a podcast you’d like to recommend me to listen to, leave me a comment as well.
Twitter is a way to record thoughts and ideas that you search - it’s a history
Twitter connects you to a larger world outside of the classroom and even the country
Students can follow people who do what they want to do or who they admire and get a sense for their job and life
Twitter can improve writing and punctuation
There’s some controversy about the classroom article because the students in question are 6th Graders, and I think that’s fine. Let them be exposed to Twitter at an early age and all that. But more importantly, who’s going to teach people like us? I think I have 2 friends (in the similar age group) on Twitter, and unless that number grows to reap substantial network externalities, it’s hard to see that catching on.
Similar sentiments regarding news. Running a Campus Radio station, sometimes it is hard to get the most updated news. Wouldn’t that all change with Twitter? However, again, it depends on whether sufficient people are using it to highlight news, for anything to be really gained out of it.
Next up, if you’re someone who is guilty of procrastination (as I am), here is a free ebook by Fruitful Time called Stop Procrastination Now and here’s a guide to Lazy Productivity. I found them both to be pretty helpful.
Finally, if you were too lazy to check out Jaffe Juice #102 for the Scrabulous jingle, Ariah was kind enough to provide the youtube link, so watch it right here. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
