Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Links For The Week: 9th November (The Obama Edition)

In the wake of the historical moment that happened earlier this week, there have been tons and tons of blog posts on President Obama’s victory. In this special edition of weekly links, I present five of them that really caught my attention, four of them marketing and/or social media based, and one commentary based.

1) Marketing lessons from the US Elections by Seth Godin. – I haven’t read Seth Godin’s “Tribes” yet, but from hearing about it and reading his blog, it’s pretty intuitive what it’s about. Find out how tribes (and stories) played a part in the elections.

2) Obama proves that there is nothing more powerful than an engaged community by Alexander van Elsas in the Netherlands – Tribes, community, they’re the same thing. Having them is one thing, but having them and setting fire to them is another.

3) Ten marketing lessons from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign by David Meerman Scott – Not going to go through all ten, but I loved the points about citizen journalists and putting your fans first.

4) Online Facebook Efforts Prove Successful for the Obama Campaign by Louis Gray – Some interesting data on the Facebook community engaged with Obama. Louis asks if John McCain’s loss could be a result of the lack of social media efforts. I certainly think it’s a key reason.

5) Obama: The morning after and some last thoughts by Steven Hodson at the Inquisitr – I picked this because a) it appeared in my Google Alerts for my name, and b) because it collects some really heartfelt comments from people around the internet, and not all of them American, demonstrating how truly global this election has been.

If you weren’t big on the elections and the marketing/social media efforts, have no fear. Regular round of Links For The Week will be right up tomorrow!

Tags: alexander van elsas, citizen journalists, david meerman scott, engaged community, google alerts, inquisitr, john mccain, louis gray, marketing lessons from the us elections, obama facebook efforts, president barack obama, putting your fans first, seth godin, steven hodson, tribes

Posted in Links, Marketing | 1 Comment »

Thoughts On Obama’s Victory

Talking to a lot of people here in Canada, not many can understand the complete indifference we tend to have in Singapore towards politics. I’m one of those indifferent people, but ironically, not when it came to this year’s US presidential election.
Tonight, walking home from a movie, I heard loud cheering from houses along the streets. I peered in and saw the elections on TV, Obama posters on the windows, and knew he won. I made a quick detour to the business school here in Queen’s, and the student lounge was packed with people watching President Obama giving his victory speech. I heard from a friend that earlier in class, laptops all around her were monitoring the presidential ticker counter.

And all this happening in Canada, for a president not even theirs, in a demographic not usually associated with politics.

Seth Godin would say we’ve joined President Obama’s “tribe”, for whatever reason it may be. I will be the first to admit I don’t know a thing about his policies, but I identify with him because he’s involved in politics during a world of change, and is embracing that change. Just look at his efforts in social media.

I don’t think I know any people my age who aren’t part of his tribe during this election. He spoke to us where we were, online. Whether it’s race, support for his policies, embracing the American dream or any other reason, we’ve embraced this change and I truly believe the world is much better off for it.

Yes, we can.

Tags: canada, president barack obama, queen's university, US presidential election

Posted in Gen Y | 6 Comments »