Web Design, Digital & Social Media Marketing in Singapore

Will the Twitter craze hit Singapore?

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

Twitter in Singapore

I asked myself this question before I decided to take the plunge into the world of tweets. I cannot find statistics of twitter users in Singapore. I asked around and most of my peers heard of twitter, probably got an account but has never used it since then.

The question is our mind is – who the hell what’s to do what you are watching, eating or playing with? I can do take on Facebook, I can share that on my blog so why twitter?

I recalled 10 years back when Blogs hit the shores of Singapore. People where asking, who the heck with the right frame of mind will want to publish his/her diary online? And who would want to read them?

Today, blogs have evolved. It has taken over corporate websites, spearheading the frontlines of digital marketing for various companies, allowing them to share their thought process and beliefs with clients. Blogs has became an integral part of digital marketing, a powerful tool in SEO and a necessity for promoting thought leadership. Would those would ridiculed the thought of a Weblog10 years back be left wondering how mypoic they were? I was one of them. my friends.

I see Twitter as a form of blog -micro-blogging. I didn’t coin that that word. With the emergence of multiple social media channels, consumers and companies will find it more an more difficult to devote their precious time to these channels. Maintaining a blog is time consuming task. As such, we are seeing a hybrid of blog and tweets. Blog sites can now pull twitter feeds real-time. Integrating these 2 channels allows content to be updated regularly. Tweet content that are shorter, or a hyperlink to a good read somewhere, etc. Blog content that are longer and requires more efforts in articulating your points.

Twitter will take roots in Singapore. Soon.

Is having a huge number of twitter followers that important?

// May 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Social Media Marketing

photo credits : brajeswhwar
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If you are a twitter user, you probably will have a couple of people following you every week. You visit their twitter page, realized that these ’social media celebrities’ has tens of thousands of followers. You think to yourself, I should reciprocate and follow back. You are not alone.

Many marketers believe that it is important  to have many twitter followers – as many as possible. It helps them create a channel to broadcast, to establish their online reputation as “I am important” or it simply makes they credible. I beg to differ.

The method of mass following is common. Many ‘twitter gurus’ make a business out of this by teaching others how to increase the number of followers in a very short time. Their tools include softwares that automatically follows people, hoping that they will reciprocate. I am not saying it is wrong. I just don’t agree.

It is about your content

In my earlier post in Social Media Optimization, I talk about quality and not quantity. I also talk about social media as 2-way communications and it is about establishing a relationship. The number of followers is irrelevant if most of them don’t even know who you are, what you do and what you are saying. Would they care a sxxt what you are trying to ‘push’ them when you have a product to sell? I don’t think so.

We heard about the success of dell using twitter to market its products, reaping in a million dollars.  They did not do mass following. They offered twitter exclusive offers instead. Dell creates a reason for followers to follow them. In this sense, it is 2-way. There are ‘contents’ that the followers are interested.

It is about commitment (time & resources)

Social media marketing requires commitment. It is time, money and manpower. It requires sustained efforts. I relate that to real-life socialization where you need to dedicate time and money to get out there and know more people, and be known at the same time. If all these sounds a lot to you or your boss, social media marketing may not be your cup of tea.

New to Twitter?

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

Twitter don’t seem to have picked up in this region, compared to US & UK. nevertheless, if you are keen to know more, here’s a video which you may first useful.

It is the ultimate guide to twitter

I have also found an excellent guide to twitter from Design Depot. After you are done with these, read on how your business can benefit from using twitter as a marketing tool.

Enjoy.