Web Design, Digital & Social Media Marketing in Singapore

Integrating social media marketing into your digital strategy

// July 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing in baby steps

All these years, we have been focusing on SEO (and also SEM) as part of our internet marketing strategy to drive traffic to our websites. We have been obsessed with page rankings, keywords optimization, inbound links, etc. We are not wrong. But today, it is important to recognize that consumers are not just relying on search engines to find information, there are many more places that they search now.

We need to look into social media marketing as part of our strategy. Companies need to be more searchable in social media networks as well. Probably soon, somebody will be coming up with a social media page rank. From this perspective, Search Engine Optimization should be expanded to include Social Media Marketing, thus the new term Search Optimization.

According to the Aberdeen group research report released in March 2009:-
* 63% of companies surveyed plan to increase their social media marketing budgets
* 21% plan to increase spending by 25% or more
* 34% responding plan to make no change.
* only 3% plan to shrink social media budgets

This clearly shows that despite the current economy turmoil, which also hit us badly in Singapore, companies are beginning to understand that traffic sources are no longer solely dependent on SEO.

Companies in Singapore is slow to pick up social media marketing. They have heard alot about it but is clueless what it can be done and how it should be done. If we understand the important of being Search Optimized, our strategies our clients should  My point is that agencies need to start educating clients, encouraging them to take small steps into social media marketing. Illustrating to them their ROIs and managing their expectations. Small steps in this infant market is crucial.

Social Media explained

// June 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

A simple-to-understand video on what’s social media all about.

To me, the emergence of Social Media, globally and in Singapore, allow consumers to influence decisions of fellow consumers. At the same time, it shifted the way businesses are managed and forces people like the ‘Big Ice Cream Factory’ to rethink on their marketing strategies.

The video did not really touch on how the ‘Big Ice Cream Factory’ be affected by groundswell. Although it benefited directly from the increased sale of vanila flavoured ice cream, there are other more crucial effects that may result from this.

First, social media flattens the playing field. Small start-ups that has a ‘better idea’ can now compete on a level playing field with the big boys. They focus on a niche market, has a smaller but more loyal customer base. They are nimble and if they are listening to their customers, they will be able to change product offerings based on consumers’ demand. The ‘Big Ice Cream Factory’ now faces the risk of losing market-share, when more and more such start-ups emerge. What the ‘Big Ice Cream Factory’ can do is to then flex their ‘$ muscle’, invest heavily in traditional advertising and attempt to influence buying decisions. That increases cost of sales and diminishes margins. Even if the market share is maintained, profits are reduced. How long can that last?

It is natural that companies will start looking at this powerful medium eventually (if they have yet to). That will change the way they market their products, engage their consumers, develop new products and even the way their organize their teams. The effect of social media to businesses is deep.

Chris Brogan: Listening in Social Media

// June 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Social Media is not merely for marketing. It is a space where meaningful conversations on brands are taking place. It is beneficial for companies to filter these conversations from chatters and derive insights on information pertaining to their brands and products. I found a tool call SPY by Ben Hedrington. It is a search engine that sniffs out conversations on blogs, flickr, twitter & more.

Keyword-to-Conversion Model

// June 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Marketing

The usual approach to SEM by most companies are:-

1. Identify keywords used for search (either by guessing, online media companies or online tools like Google Keyword Tool)

2. Craft out Ad copy, focusing on product USP and Promo mechanics

3. Link to website (either homepage, promotion page, microsite or specific product pages).

This method is not wrong to some extend but if you give it a deeper thought, the entire process could be more focused, direct and conversion-driven. I term it as the keyword-to-conversion model. Basically, conversion starts from the point a search attempt is made.

The key here is to identify the search objective through the search words/ phrase used. Based on the search objective, the ad copy has to be crated to address this. The aim here is to allow the ad copy to be relevant to the search objective, thus allowing the consumer to be able to relate to the ad. With this, we can achieve what we call a ‘true click-thru’.

A ‘true click-thru’ is a result of a non-implusive, need-driven action. It basically filters real clicks from those that are merely in for the wron reason, thus reducing your PPC budget, increasing ROI. Let me emphasize that this approach is strictly for Search networks and is not applicable if you are advertising on a content network.

With a ‘true click-thru’, 50% of the battle is won. Remember, the person that is coming onto your site now has a ‘real’ intention / objective and is not merely browsing. As such, the landing page is crucial. It has to make reference to the ad copy and search objective. For example, if the search objective is to compare prices of a service, the ad copy could say ‘voted most cost effective service by ABC magazine’, providing a point of comparison. The landing page should further emphasize the concept of ‘comparison’ – such as allowing the consumers to select some brands and do a side by side comparison. With this, a high level of interest and relevance is maintained.

In a conversion site, traffic resulting from a PPC campaign on a search network needs to be guided. Imagine someone comes up to you and says he wants to buy an iPod. You bring him to the entrance of yor shop and drop him off there and say ‘Feel free to browse around’. ???

Guide them around. Create informational paths within the site that has a purpose in mind – conversion. From the landing page where you have shown that your service and product is great, bring them to the next page to reinforce that buying decision. I called this the Influencing Page. In this page, contents are create to reinforce buying decisions. It could be testimonials, it could be a summary of USPs, it could be a promotion to create the need to ‘buy now’.

Remember – in a conversion site, it is important to craft contents that are relevant to the search objective, guide them through the site, reinforce buyng decision and then convert. The process should be sharp and sweet.

Chris Brogan – Don’t be that guy!

// June 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Excellent way in articulating the ‘wrong way’. We cannot further emphasize that social media is not a place or peddling your wares. You don’t do it in real life too. I was doing a presentation couple of days ago and was emphasizing that to the client. Imagine going into a social gathering for the first time and you whipped out your products and started pushing them to everyone you meet. We just don’t do that in real life. People that do these things are usually ‘excluded’ from the community immediately. In social media, it is the same.

Listen to Chris – don’t be that guy. please.

Why a Facebook username?

// June 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

Facebook Username

The debate among the facebook community over the need to have a vanity URL, similar to what Twitter and MySpace, has been around for some time. It is until 87 mins ago that Facebook allows us to ‘land-grab’ our own piece of digital property. I got mine – http://www.facebook.com/jason.lim. I was excited. I email blasted all my colleagues at Oasis Interactive, my family and my buddies. Some asked me the need to have that URL?

Shareability

Less than 2 hours ago from this blog post, you need to tell your friend “search for Jason Lim on Facebook” and “I am somewhere on the 2nd page”. At this exact moment, I will say – “Find me at http://www.facebook.com/jason.lim“.

Branding

Having a vanity URL allows more ways to incorporate facebook as part of one’s personal branding strategy. Your links are now more meaningful and may even be useful in some aspect of SEO too.

Have you gotten yours?

Using facebook profile pic as a campaign driver

// June 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Campaigns

3 simple steps to designing an effective banner ad

// June 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Digital Marketing

Frame 1 – Product Visual
Frame 2 – Promo Message
Frame 3 – Call to Action

If this has been your design strategy for banner ads, think again.

Designing a banner ad can be as simple as above, and at the same time, be as complex as you can imagine. I use the 3Rs to help my designers remember:-

1. Relevance

Banner copy, call to action and visuals need to be relevant to audience’s needs as well as the webpage content that the banner resides on. If the product is about sport injury treatment, the webpage is a mountain biking online magazine that is talking about stunts, a relevant Banner Ad message could be “Still feeling that ache from your last stunt?” instead of “Cutting edge technology in sports injury treatment”.

2. Reference

The banner message should be able make references to people, incidents, events, equipment, etc to the target audience. Using the same mountain biking banner ad as an example again, “Benefited by mountain bikers around Asia since 1999″ or “Used by the Singapore mountain biking team”.

3. Relate

Allow target audience to be able to relate to the message, creating the thought – What if it is me? Consumers need to be able to relate what you are trying to communicate to themselves on a personal level in order for you to create that motivation for a ‘true click-through’.

Bottomline is – When designing a banner ad, it is not about what you want to tell the consumer. That’s Marketing 1.0. Change your mindset in your design strategy and ask yourself, what does the consumer wants?

To reduce or not to reduce?

// June 7th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Agency Management

If you are in client servicing, part of your job will require to prepare proposals to clients. More than often, you will have to face requests to reduce the fees to meet budgetary limitations. So the question is – To reduce or not to reduce?

Honestly, it is not about thee fees. It is about the agency’s base costs. Just like any other businesses, there are costs to run the business. Only by knowing these costs can the agency derive a formula to calculate it’s base cost for taking on each project. This is how I have done it.

1. Establish daily rate of each headcount
Assuming>> CD – $8,000/month ; AD – S$6,000/mth ; AM – $4,000 ; AE – $2,500 ; Programmer – $3,000
The formula to calculate daily rate is [(monthly rate x cpf rate x 14)/12]/22
CD’s daily rate = [(8,000 x 1.15 x 14)/12]/22 = $488

2. Estimate each headcount’s involvement
By scoping up the requirements, you should be able to estimate who should be involved in which part of the project and how long it will take. The amount of man-days required per headcount should be based on working on the job full-time. Seek help from seniors and even the respective headcounts to get a more accurate estimate.

3. The Base Cost
Add all headcount costs and that’s your Base Cost. This Base Cost gives you an indication that your project fees cannot go lower than this. Base Cost already exceed client’s budget? – Go to Pt 6.

4. Margins
With the Base Cost derived, multiply it with margins at 1.6x. This 60% margin is added for creating a buffer for miscalculation of man-days, underestimation of scope and clients’ change of specs. If the client’s budget is tight, stay at 1.6. If there are rooms to play, go all the way to 2.2.

5. Use this to monitor profitability
Assuming the project is awarded, PMs need to use the estimated man-days as a gauge to monitor productivity / profitability. Remember – overruns will erode the margin!

6. Be Flexible
There are many occasions that Base Costs already exceeds client’s budget. Be flexible to review the man-days estimation, evaluate the importance of this client vs margins, explore alternative development methods and sources, reduce scope with client, etc. There are many areas that can be trimmed so Base Cost can be reduced. Key is to be flexible and make a continuous effort to everyone’s expectations.

So you see, only when you know how much it costs you to take on the project can you then decide how much to charge, and then know how much you can earn. The question is not really about to reduce or not to reduce.

LinkedIn made easy

// June 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

photo credits : Binkiexxx

One of the most asked questions from my clients – What’s LinkedIn and how it can benefit my business?

If you use Facebook to connect to friends, you can use LinkedIn to connect to business associates. LinkedIn is a social networking site where an individual creates an online profile of his/her professional resume. With that profile, he/she then connects to someone in LinkedIn and through that network, establish new job opportunities or business opportunities.

Within your network of business contacts, you can recommend or as to be introduced to other contacts. LinkedIn allows users to also create and join groups. Within these groups, users can discuss and share ideas on the specific topics.

Here are some ways that you can use LinkedIn to leverage on your career or business:-

Join groups and get involved in discussions

Participate in discussion within groups that are related to a your industry. It is through this participation that you inherit new ideas and also made yourself known. In your discussion, you have the opportunity to be heard, make relevant references to your blog posts and even use case studies in your business to reinforce a point you are making. If you are doing it right, you will be able to increase the visibility of your business and brand, generate sales leads, drive traffic to your websites and even enhance your SEO efforts.

Set up a company profile

A properly crafted company profile page will open your company to attract potential candidates. Add links to your company’s blog, facebook group, twitter account, etc. Your digital footprint is something that you can leverage on to attract talents, at the same time, give your potential clients a feel of your corporate culture.

You may want to know before jumping in…

There are a few issues you may want to keep in mind before launching a campaign on LinkedIn.

Confidential corporate information – Similar to any online social media networks, the risk corporate information leaking is real. That risk is multiplied if there is a huge number of employees in LinkedIn. You may want to communicate some simple house rules for employees to aid them in understanding what’s considered ‘confidential’.

Poaching – It is known that recruiters use LinkedIn and other professional networking sites to headhunt potential candidates for their assignments. You may also want to know even without LinkedIn, poaching and headhunting still exists.

You are want you posted - Again, like any social networking, you are what you post. Your corporate culture is also reflected based on how you ‘behave’ on LinkedIn. Be mindful that you are being watched by potential employers, clients and more importantly, your BOSS!

Have fun!