Web Design, Digital & Social Media Marketing in Singapore

Is social media a cheaper way to market your products and services?

// May 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Since the time when social media marketing gained the attention of marketeers, it has always been perceived that social media marketing is free. You don’t need to pay Wordpress, facebook, flickr, youtube and linkedin (even though some of them have paid service) to get on the social media bandwagon. And again, viral is perceived as free since it is the users that is sharing, retweeting & forwarding content to their network for you, without asking you to pay them!

The truth is the tools are often free but the labour required to set up, manage and maintain the individual outlets are not. Social media marketing basically reallocates some of your budget for paid media to paid labour. Realistically, companies that are embracing the social web need to know it is not a short-term, tactical campaign. The true form of social media marketing is to engage, influence and eventually build trust and relationships to create brand loyalty. Having said that, the manpower costs incurred need to be audited and accounted for prior any long-term social media implementation. Manpower to manage this initiative should not conveniently be the marketing team. This will avoid the initiative being stalled or reduced to crawling speed when the allocated (or should I say ‘arrowed’) resources are busy with their primarily work responsibilities.

Here are some pointers to take note:-
1. If you’re into blogging, build an editorial calendar and identify the resources required to write the blog posts. You will see if existing company resources are sufficient in handling that.

2. If you’re onto social networks, know what you want to do and intend to achieve from these networks. Allocate sufficient time per day to monitor, respond and engage the community in these networks. Review if your existing headcount can handle those tasks.

3. If you’re into flickr or youtube, ask if you have the resources in content creation. It sounds easy to grab a camera or video camera to shoot and post but realistically, it takes time to do that and more than often, the post-editing part is 2-3x the time spent on photography/filming. Identify costs of outsourcing these if you intend to.

4. In a long run, you will need someone to manage your social media initiatives. Identify consultant fees, workshops/courses for internal teams, agency fees and even a dedicated headcount if things get bigger.

I’m not saying social media is going to cost you an arm or a leg, neither am I saying it is not worth embracing it. The key is to set the expectations right.

Social Media Revolution 2

// May 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

I like the part where it says (2.45 min)
“Do you like what they are saying about your brand? You better”

Anyone came across stats that are based on Asiapac?

Measuring success in social media marketing

// April 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Photo courtesy of Marco D @ Flickr.com

Year 2000 or earlier, campaign objectives revolve around customer acquisition. A decade later now, clients raved about customer retention – to retain customers, build customer loyalty, establish trust, increase referrals – all aiming at increasing profits for the client. In my opinion as a digital marketer being socially optimized will help the client’s business a great deal in retaining customers and increasing profits.

Digital campaigns that I worked on require some form of measurement so the client and I know what worked, and what did not. I am inclined to measure effectiveness of each campaign based on the level of engagement and interaction in each campaign. Here is a list of metrics that I used in some of the campaigns:-

The only logical way of measurement, to me, with a lack of statistical data over a significant timeframe, is to measure the above metrics over a period of time (3-6 months) and peg the statistics to actual sales figures or revenue. With that, I can correlate revenue growth vs metrics. This shows what worked, what do not. Again, I stress that the expectation in measuring success of a digital campaign needs to be worked out with the client so both digital agency and client is on the “same wavelength”.

Digg is 5 years old – Celebrates the power of consumers’ voice

// January 28th, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

TED : It is okay to lose control

// January 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Digital Campaigns, Social Media Marketing

The part that hits me most is the summarizing slides:- “It is okay to lose control. Because you are no longer in control.” What companies and brands in Singapore need to know is the consumers have a voice louder than theirs and the way to go is to embrace and co-create the experience with consumers. One-way, top-down, monologue will not work in today’s environment (okay, it will probably work a little if you have lots and lots of budget).

5 steps to generating leads from LinkedIn

// January 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Your profile is what you are

On LinkedIn (just like in any other social media spaces), you are what your profile says. As such, it is important that your LinkedIn profile is not only up-to-date but clearly reflects that you do and what you are good at. Put some thoughts into crafting a profile for the job you want.

If you are are a Business Analyst looking out for opportunities in the digital marketing space, changing your current job title to ‘Business Analyst (Marketing / Social Media) will put you within the search radar immediately. Integrate your blog and blog about relevant topics. Get affiliated with relevant groups and start participating in LinkedIn Answers.

Get connected and reconnected

Once your profile is up-to-date and is able to tell people clearly what you are doing and good at, start connecting with people that you know. Take the stack of namecards from your drawer and start searching for contacts that are on LinkedIn too.

Make it a point that whenever you receive a new namecard, do a search on LinkedIn and see if you can locate the contact. Build your network this way and see it grows! Remember to include your LinkedIn URL in your email signature, blog and any digital assets so you can be located easily.

LinkedIn groups – Be seen, be heard.

With new connections adding up, look into potential customers’ profiles and see what are the groups that they are active in. Join them and listen to the conversations that are happening within these groups. Not only will you be able to identify trends, you may even identify gaps in the industry where your expertise can fill. If there are specific conversations that falls within your expertise / knowledge, participate and contribute. That makes you visible to your potential customers.

LinkedIn Answers

As part of your personal branding, you should be actively participating in LinkedIn Answers, sharing experiences and knowledge with peers and potential customers. If there is a particular question that you would like to answer, create a blog post that is related to that question and blog about it. At LinkedIn Answers, give a condensed version of your answer and refer the reader to that blog post. That way, you drive traffic to your blog when answering the question.

Don’t Forget LinkedIn’s Profile Update

Many LinkedIn users skipped this which comes in handy when you want people to know your newly acquired customer, a new solution or product that you have launched or even a new project that you are working on. Keep your LinkedIn connections informed!

Social Media Marketing – A new business opportunity for digital agencies?

// November 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Campaigns, Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Digital agencies are probably getting more enquiries on social media marketing lately. Clients have been asking what can they do on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. All of a sudden there seems to be a huge demand but is this an opportunity for digital agencies to monetize or it is a wake-up call for us to understand the need to stay relevant in this ever-evolving digital space.

At the end of the day, the agency job is to equip the clients with a strategy in connecting with their customers, a platform to do that, best practices in managing it and tracking metrics to allow R.O.I. reporting. But the actual implementation is still very much by the client. The only possible way to monetize is a retainer fee to help the client stay on the intended path, or help them in making tweaks to fine-tune the entire strategy.

So if you ask me if there’s money to be made here, I will probably say no. As an agency, knowing how to deal with social media allows you to integrate them into your digital strategy, making your outreach campaigns more viral, more influential, more human. Social media marketing should be seen as part of your client digital strategy and it is key that the agency is able to harness this to build better brands via the digital space.

Jetstar Asia’s radio ads – Example of content marketing

// October 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Design

On my way to work in the morning, the Jetstar Asia’s radio ad always catches my attention. I think it resonates strongly with my belief in content marketing. 90% of the ad talks about highlights of the destination, content that tourist visiting will like to know. That’s an excellent example of content marketing. You share contents that are relevant to your potential customers, allow them to consume these contents, over a period of time, build a relationship and influence a sale at the end of the day.

I was hoping to get more information on the ad about nightlife in Taipei from their website. To my surprise, there was indeed a free travel guide for Taipei that I could download for free. 2 thumbs up!

I see an extension to this radio ad campaign to the digital space by publishing these guides onto a Jetstar travel blog, allow their customers to comment or share experiences and thus, completing the entire experience. The blog posts which are search engine-friendly (if they are properly crafted) will also help drive relevant traffic to the website.

I will fly Jetstar the next time I visit Taipei. ;o)

Google SideWiki changes the world wide web to a singular Social Web

// September 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Design

Google recently launched the SideWiki plug-in for firefox and IE browsers. With SideWiki installed, anyone can now contribute comments to any webpages. Yes, any webpages. That effectively converted the entire world wide web to a singular social web that empowers consumer to comment on anything & everything.

The SideWiki feature adopts a user rated system that determines the ranking of each comment. Comments that are voted ‘useful’ gets a higher ranking. Abuses can be reported to Google so the folks there can review the offending comment and decide if it should be removed.

Brands hesitant in embracing the social web now has a new challenge right at their doorstep. SideWiki has basically created a comment box on all their webpages allowing anyone to pen their views. Think about your competitors posting a comment that focuses on the weaknesses of your product and emphasizing their strengths over yours. Think about happy customers complimenting your staff for a pleasant experience at one of your outlets or a unhappy customer complaining about the quality of your services. Can you ignore these like you used to because it is happening elsewhere and not on your website?

This is major step forward in the transition of the world wide web to social web and there is more to come. The key is to start learning how to embrace the social web, understand and accept that your corporate website has became a platform where consumers can now openly discuss, comment and compliment you. Listen to the consumers and address issues to deliver a more consumer-focus, consumer-centric and consumer-driven service / product. Equip your people with skills in handling positive and negative feedback and not sweep them under the carpet.

Video : Did You Know 4.0

// September 22nd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Agency Management, Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Ain’t you glad you are in this exciting business? ;o)
Tip – Great stats for you when preparing your decks!