Awhile back I was talking to a friend who I went to school with, and she was telling me about a social media training session by an “expert” who was teaching them how to use social media to monitor their brand. This apparently covered the usual Google Alerts, as well as some of the more popular forums here in Singapore. So I asked the obvious question: “When’re you going to start participating?”
“Oh. We have to pay more for training for engagement.”
Say what?
I’m definitely not against having training for engagement. It’s way too easy to do the wrong thing when commenting on a blog, using Twitter, using Facebook or just replying on a forum. Not to mention there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for participation, and it’ll have to be customised to fit your company’s needs, which will differ from industry to industry, and even within industries, between companies.
Here’s the thing though. If I were an agency or a self-proclaimed “expert” (a term I really don’t like), I’d love it if a company contacts me and doesn’t include a request for engagement in the “training package”. Great for greed, great for money.
It’s like going to an agency and asking for something “viral” just because it’s the latest buzzword, but not having an inkling what it’s actually about, and when the agency comes back to you with an idea which is far from viral, you won’t know any better and have to take their word for it. Do you really want to take that kind of risk with your money these days?
So I think as a client, do yourself a favour and do some research on what your agency should be offering you and what you should be asking for. And if you don’t know enough and don’t have the time to know about, at least bring someone on board in your company who can tell you when your agency or “expert” is obviously shilling you.
I suppose this isn’t news, but Starhub (one of the three telcos here in Singapore) has brought its presence to the social media scene in the form of a Twitter account, @StarHubCares.
During the first few weeks, there were a few issues like @StarHubCares replying other Twitter users, asking them to direct message (dm) @StarHubCares directly, but because @StarHubCares wasn’t following them on Twitter in the first place, there was no way for a dm to get through.
Thankfully, with some help from the community, this was quickly sorted out and @StarHubCares quickly followed these people (myself included) back, and got down to replying their issues.
Here are a few questions that I do have about the initiative:
1) Should it be more transparent that the person behind @StarHubCares is not actually someone from Starhub, but their agency? Some online feel yes, I’m slightly on the fence.
2) Is Twitter the best (or even a right) channel for them to be on?
3) @StarHubCares seems to do a good job of listening in and replying to questions/problems, but are there actual accounts from them or from the general public about cases being closed, problems being solved?
4) Do regular Starhub employees know about this service, so that maybe when they close a sale at a retail outlet, they can tell customers about this service in addition to the customer helpline?
What do you think? When should a company be on Twitter? Does it fit Starhub? Should they be doing more with it? Less?
It’s been three weeks but the next episode of The GennY Podcast is finally here! Full disclosure: This was actually our first recording, but we felt that the episode we released first was better suited to be our first, introductory podcast. Coincidentally, some topics actually touch on what was said at Social Media Breakfast | Singapore 6, but in slightly more detail.
Once again, this episode was brought to you by the same people behind episode 1 (Krisandro, myself, Dorothy, Yin and Yinqi), but we hope to shake that up for subsequent episodes.
GennY Episode 2 Team
The show notes:
00:00 - Daryl starts us off - introductions all round
00:55 - Yin starts us off on the topic: How can we get traditional companies to start slowly on the social media path?
01:35 - Social media allows you to know what your consumer wants, what trends they’re picking up, and hence customise your communications/marketing
03:02 - Why don’t companies go where their audience is?
05:42 - Is there a perceived credibility problem with social media?
06:48 - How well received would brands be on Plurk?
07:50 - Maybe if they talked about things other than just selling, they might be better received.
08:31 - No messages from unknown faces please!
11:46 - Should employees reach out from their own identity, or create one aligned with a company?
13:02 - “Dear All” = Fail
15:03 - How about Facebook Groups?
15:39 - Facebook Groups more as personality “labels” rather than a communication channel
16:40 - Maybe Facebook Groups would work if the creators made an effort to communicate to the group
16:47 - But this can be overdone too
18:20 - Is this an intrinsic problem because Facebook Groups have no RSS?
A number of weeks ago, I was invited by Text 100 to attend an event by Norton (yes, the people who make the anti virus), held at Equinox here in Singapore.
The first thing that I noticed at the event, was that it was a huge event. There easily over 60 people present, and further investigation revealed that some were bloggers like us, some were people interested in technology (like Tech 65), others were Norton enthusiasts and fans, others still were Norton detractors.
What? Norton’s paying money to feed detractors?
Yes you heard me right. If you watch the video by Effendy Ibrahim, he explains why it’s important to have a variety of people present to get meaningful feedback and conversations.
Later in the presentation, Norton said that while they have always been known for providing good protection, they were also known for being a computer resource hog, and agreed with that assessment. However they have learned their lesson and their latest version of Norton 360 takes up minimal resources.
That really blew me away. How many companies are mature enough and secure in their product to invite people who don’t like them, interact with them, and openly admit past mistakes? Not many, I can tell you that.
After the presentations, we broke up into smaller groups, depending on interests. I ended up in the “lifestyle” segment, where we talked about how to be safe when surfing the web. During this session it was mentioned that Generation Y spends the most time online compared to any age group, which prompted me to ask if Norton was aggressively going after this segment, given that Norton programmes are expensive and most of us students just go for the freeware.
The reply was surprisingly open (or maybe not surprising, by this time), saying that it was indeed an issue and that they were looking for an “in route” to the tertiary crowd. I was also informed that the student edition is not as expensive as I thought it was, estimated in the mid double-digits.
All in all, I was impressed not by the new version of Norton 360, but the openness towards communication with which Norton approached the session. This wasn’t an instance of a client engaging an agency to do an outreach programme for the sake of it, but the client genuinely wanting to reach out and create that connection with their audiences, knowing it will benefit them in the long run.
I have a copy of Norton Anti Virus (Gaming Edition) and a copy of Norton Utilities to give out (generously provided by Norton, of course). And all you have to do is comment why you should receive either of the products (specify which you want). Also, if you tweet this blogpost with the hashtag #Norton, you stand double the chances of winning. Closes Monday, 6th April!
My mum showed me this article from the Straits Times a few days ago, with the headline: “Blogs’ reach limited: Study“, stating that mainstream media is still the key source of news and views, at least socio-politically. (Straits Times: It literally took me just about four minutes to find the link to that page. Why doesn’t Google pick up your stuff and why is your archival system so bad?)
So what I want to comment on, is this paragraph:
Mr Tan compared the several thousand readers who tune in to socio-political websites The Online Citizen (TOC) and The Wayang Party Club to The Straits Times’ circulation of nearly 400,000 and its readership of 1.3 million.
Without going on all day, here are my quick thoughts:
I suppose newspapers being awesome have nothing to do with the numerous newspapers shutting down worldwide. (Here are some Google search results)
Of the 400,000 circulation, how many people actively care about the “socio-political” commentary?
Straits Times has a “readership” of 1.3 million, which means the 400,000 circulation is roughly passed along three times. Or in the case of my family, seven of us (including the dog) have access to the Straits Times, but maybe one person reads it regularly. (The dog used to eat it regularly. Talk about consuming the news.)
I suppose the “readership” applies to army camps where they have one copy of it but it’s shared by 30 people, most of whom don’t manage to get their hands on it
The websites with “several thousand readers” (why no figures?) are actively being sought out, compared to newspapers.
The people seeking out that content are particularly motivated and highly engaged in the source material
If I were in an organisation (non-profit, cause, school, company, government), I’d easily trade 5,000 newspaper “readers” for 1 person actively searching for my content
Reach means nothing.
What are your thoughts? Are articles like this just plain in denial? Or is there really something here?
What exactly is Nokia Comes With Music? Well it’s a range of phones (but most notably the Nokia 5800) that literally comes with music in the form of a direct link to Nokia’s music store (either via the phone or your computer), that allows you to download music directly to your device.
Here’s the best part: if you have the phone, your music from the store is free for a year. So essentially you have access to more than 4 million tracks (that usually go for S$2 each), for the price of the phone.
I think this is the huge selling point for the phone for me. One of the reasons why piracy is so rampant is simply because we (at least here in Asia) don’t exactly have alternatives when it comes to getting it legally. Comes With Music totally gets rid of that problem.
If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering what happens after the year is up. Does Nokia lock up all the tracks you downloaded? Well the answer is no. The tracks are yours to keep, and can be played from your computer, but you’ll need a new Comes With Music phone to play them on a mobile device. To some, this may be a catch, but the few people I’ve talked to have said this isn’t a deal breaker. After all, Apple/the iTunes store, also has DRM built in that wouldn’t allow you to play your track on anything other than an iPod. I can’t even play it on anything other than iTunes!
I think the idea of having music just readily available to you at no added cost could be a very, very compelling reason to get this phone. Heck I gave serious thought to getting one just for access to the store. Nokia: C’mon let’s have a yearly access plan straight to the store!
Last week I made a trip down to Queensway Shopping Centre here in Singapore to replenish my supply of contact lenses. Just to put things in perspective for people not in Singapore, a third of the shops on the first floor are optical shops, a third are for shoes, and the last third are clothes stores. So it’s the perfect place to go for any of these three categories of consumer items.
To cut a long story short, I walked one round around the first floor and walked into almost every optical shop , and was quoted anywhere from $41 to $48 for a box of contact lenses, depending on the quantity of boxes I intended to buy. Eventually I reached a shop that offered me $42 for 4 boxes, told her I’d buy 8 boxes if she brought the price down, and got them for $40 a box. Pretty ok deal.
Here’s the thing, I don’t understand why different shops would bother setting such different prices, when all the consumer has to do is spend half an hour walking around to get price comparisons. It’s literally “perfect information” to borrow an economics term, at least within the building.
Wouldn’t it be better to just throw out the bullshit, get straight to the point and give a good offer from the get go? Why play hard to get? Why not start out with a good price and get $320 of sales, instead of risking the consumer walking to the next store three shops away, and letting them get that $320 in revenue? Is it worth that extra profit margin ($41 vs $42?)
I mean the contact lenses are exactly the same from shop to shop, the only differentiator being price.
Maybe when times were good, people would rather go to the first shop and just pay the money and go. Now I think consumers are even more concerned about getting a better “deal”, and it would be better if small businesses like these, start realising that.
Just for reference, this is the shop that gives you good deals for contact lenses:
No.1 Queensway
#01-50
Singapore 149053
Tel:6474 7717
One thing that I’m wondering, from what I’m gathering from the data, is how the visits are measured. Plurk is automatically updated, Twitter isn’t. Twitter can also be accessed from desktop applications like Twhirl, Tweetdeck and many others. Are these factored in? How about mobile apps for Twitter like Twinkle and Twitterific? Similarly, how about mobile access for Plurk? The Plurk app for iPhones and iPod Touches?
In other words, are there “hidden” traffic sources that we should be looking at?
Secondly, looking at Prof. Michael’s blog post that points to Hubspot releasing a report that lists Singapore as one of the top 30 Twitter cities worldwide, I’m wondering this: If Plurk has more traffic in Singapore than Twitter, and Twitter is in the top 30 Twitter cities, what does that say about any city that is not in the top 30? Are they by default, even less than Singapore’s Plurk traffic?
What are the implications of these statistics on people looking to use microblogging as a communications tool? Is it far from being mainstream if a top 30 city is a small one like Singapore?
Granted, neither of these data points are concrete and conclusive. The Hubspot data uses about 500,000 Twitter users as a sample size. This seems to be the problem most of us are dealing with. It’s not a complete lack of information, but imperfect information. Should we just take what is available and work from there because it’s better than nothing? What are the alternatives? Would love to hear from those struggling to answer these questions just as much as I am.
One of my favourite franchises in New York is Cosi Cafe, and I spent quite a bit of time at their outlets while I was there. One thing Cosi does well is maintaining a good web presence.
Their website is divided into the US States, with individual addresses of the outlets listed. This means one can enter it on Google Maps and find it fairly easily. Or, even easier, typing “Cosi Cafe, New York” in the Google Maps search bar turns up the various locations in Manhattan, so all you have to do is choose the one closest to you.
What really blew me away was when I was trying to find this one particular Cosi Cafe outlet that I particularly liked. I didn’t remember anything about it, other than it was near the Natural History Museum. I had walked out a different exit last December and it was dark, so I randomly walked in one direction and stumbled upon the place. So I did Google Map search and looked a a couple which were rather close to the Museum, and chose Google’s Street View and saw this
Maybe you can’t see it from the image, but it’s next to a hair salon called “Curl Up And Dye”, which I remember from my previous trip (how do you forget a name like that?).
The lesson here? In a place like Manhattan, or Tokyo, or Hong Kong, or Singapore, where choice is endless, you may have people like me who adore your brand, or just a random tourist searching for “coffee in New York” or “shoes in Hong Kong”.
Unlike Kingston, you can’t afford to not be reaching out on the web with a website, a blog, a Facebook account, pictures, videos and other user-generated content, because people will be searching for your vertical, and if they can’t find you, you can bet they’ll find your competitor instead.
