360DigitalInfluence

A recent report by Inside Facebook highlights the interesting development of Facebook in Southeast Asia. Despite being blocked in China, East Asia’s largest and fastest-growing market, Facebook has grown phenomenally in the rest of Southeast Asia during the last few quarters.

How has this happened?

• In Taiwan, Facebook has exploded from 400,000 to nearly 7 million users in only 12 months
• Significant growth in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia
• Indonesia is now the world’s #3 country in terms of total Facebook audience size (behind US and UK)
• Facebook has overtaken hi5 in Thailand and Friendster in the Philippines (formerly the top social networks)
• …But Facebook has seen little growth in Japan and S. Korea

Taiwan’s rapid adoption of Facebook is a particulary interesting example, as it is now one of the few non-English speaking countries with over 30% penetration, joining Hong Kong and Singapore as one of Facebook’s Asian sucess stories.

Why Taiwan?

• A key driver for this growth has been social gaming apps, like Happy Harvest, Pet Society and Restaurant City
• These apps pull users away from other social sites without games, like Taiwan’s other social network Wretch.cc
• More games are being developed in or translated into Traditional Chinese, such as Mahjong by Godgames

Though perhaps Taiwan doesn’t represent a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia,  it does show that Facebook can be successful in the region. Perhaps social gaming will also open doors for Facebook in tougher markets like Japan and South Korea…

I’ve come across a few interesting ideas this week. The first:

1. Mountains and Mona Lisa - Samsung >> this has limited application as an emerging media I admit, but I offer it firstly because I was bought up on Wales, but more importantly because it was the precursor to the second idea – which is much more applicable:

2. Monuments and masses – Samsung 3D projections>> 3D projection will grow and grow as a brand experience format. These two ideas  in tandem create quite an interesting space that Samsung is beginning to own – innovation with LED and lighting -  similar to the Crowdsourcing ideas in Liverpool Street and Trafalgar Square that T Mobile had so much success in. There are lots of examples of monumental 3D projections – one most recently by BMW in Singapore. I adore this sort of creative work, because it is the true fusion of physical and digital. It creates both a physical and digital Theatre for the Brand in which consumers co-exist and co-create. Developing these “sustained conversations and dialogues” is core to building brands and emotions between them and consumers.

I also really enjoyed Google Chrome’s browser speed test. In a world full of complications I think it is a good example of how to make an intangible USP, more tangible. Until your competitor, the Opera Browser,  responds with their own  repost the Opera’s Speed test. Both ideas are sort of traditional “advertising stories” but neither will ever pay for media on TV.

A week would not be a week without some passing mention of an iPad, so here are two explorations of the iPad on the left side of leftfiled – the first is the iPad magic show from Japan; the second a low tech adaptation to make the hi tech, better: Velcro + iPad

Also several bookmarks on data visualisations and info-graphics this week – helping creative and data minds meet, or not:
David Armano’s excellent visualisations of our communication and social world: and a few others from Hubspot’s 22 social media Diagrams: and finally a good collection from Nowsourcing .

Clients recover fairly quickly after being told that I cannot help them create a Social Media strategy! The discussion then quickly veers around the different ways in which Social Media can help in running their businesses better. We usually warm up by discussing the following.

1. Listening, monitoring and insights gathering.
2. Influencer mapping and building relationships with key influencers.
3. Tactical campaigns, promotions, applications, viral videos etc.
4. Creating blogs/sites and other forms of information dissemination.

It gets more exciting when I tell them that all of the above are really at the ‘periphery’ of Social Media and that the single most useful opportunity that Social Media offers is the ability for the client to build, nurture and grow a community / audience for the brand or product.

(The term online community can be defined in many ways. For me the following criteria are important.)
1.     The members should have chosen to join the community and should be able to leave if they want to.
2.     The community manager should be able to get in touch with the community at any time.
3.     The community members should be able to engage in conversations with each other.
(If the third criteria is not satisfied I would call it an ‘audience’ rather a ‘community’ (an audience is also extremely useful of course)

So why is building a community THE most valuable investment that products and brands can do using Social Media?

Consider the following situation. Imagine that you are a beer brand in Singapore and have built a 100,000 strong community on Facebook. Here are just some of the ways in which you can benefit from this community.

• Information dissemination: Have a new citywide new promotion? A new pub opening? A new look for your bottle? Or simply want to wish a super weekend to you fans? Instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising (to reach the same target audience through traditional media, you can directly communicate with your target audience – for free!

• A deeper relationship with fans/customers: This is possible by engaging in conversations with them and allowing them to co-create the brand with you.
• Market Research: Launching a new beer for women? What is better than being able to receive instant feedback from thousands of fans?
• Ideas: Receive ideas for free all the time.
• Increased effectiveness: Once you have a large community, every tactical promotion/ campaign that you run online will be hugely more effective and has the potential to go viral. Just because you have a base to start with.
• Permanent asset: An online community is a permanent asset and does not deplete resources every time you use it (unlike advertising)

I am just scratching the tip of the iceberg here. How you use your community is simply limited by your imagination.

So how do you go about building a community around your brand or product? Well, that is another post in itself! I will get around to writing that in a couple of weeks.

Now that “blogger engagements” are becoming ever-so popular among brands wanting to establish a long-term relationship with influential opinion leaders in the blogosphere, the public is seeking ways to avoid becoming victim of this new phenomena of brand-to-blogger bribery game.

Personally, my take to this question would be a “NO”. And Why?
First, one of the reasons blogging came about was because of distrust in the press. Before Web 2.0 we grew up believing that the journalists job was to defend our interests. But given that many journalists work for a privately-owned publication their outputs would in one way or the other be determined by the company CEO. Probably because too many people heard about the bad examples set by Rupert Murdoch that brought about the rise of “blogs” as the new watchdogs of society. “Bloggers” are basically “freedom writers”.

Bloggers wouldn’t RISK their reputation for a few bucks from brands because:
1. Bloggers take full ownership of the content in their blogs, thus they are liable of any fraud or inaccurate information on their blog.
2. Bloggers don’t want to drive away readers
3. A blog’s success is built on credibility (and building a successful blog is as hard as building a successful career)
4. Bloggers would not give away a forest in return for a tree.
5. A blog is probably the greatest establishment of a blogger. Bloggers can’t be bloggers without a blog. No one would kill their own babies.

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide was awarded Best Use of Digital at the PR Week Awards held last night in Hong Kong for a campaign with Pond’s Age Miracle in China.

One hundred and fifty beauty bloggers in Shanghai participated in a blind trial pitting Pond’s Age Miracle against their existing prestige brand and the results worked overwhelmingly in favour of Pond’s. Nine out of 10 women said they would recommend Age Miracle to a friend and the same number said it is better than their prestige brand. For more about the case please read recent write-ups in AdvertisingAge in China and the USA.

Credit for this exciting win is shared between Marion McDonald, Rebecca Simpson, Liza Levy, Stephen Ma Haiming, yours truly … and of course our wonderful friends at Unilever in Singapore and Shanghai.

This is the second time in three years we have held this honour, following our triumph in 2007 with a case for South China Morning Post shared between our 360° Digital Influence teams in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Ogilvy PR was also recognised with a Certificate of Excellence in the Technology Campaign of the Year category for the recent Intel Blogathon in Singapore.

Moreover Ogilvy PR was named Network of the Year and took home 13 honours; three times as many as the number two agency.

Pat Law, a digital strategist based in our Singapore office, was recently featured in Her World Magazine as a leading “digerati diva” in Asia Pacific. It’s a great article and, in a five-page spread, it shows why we’re pretty lucky to have Pat on the Singapore team. You can read an excerpt of the article on Pat Law here.

I thought the end of the week would be a good time to start winding down from the mania of work, take stock of what’s been achieved and what I can look forward to in the week ahead. For me this week, it’s about going back to basics and cutting through the fluff in the way we communicate.

No matter how many times it’s been said, I still continue to come across dire examples of communications folks who seem to rapidly lose the plot after “Dear [Editor name]” or “Dear [Blogger name]“. Maybe it’s because we’ve gotten too used to pitch templates, or there’s a false sense of security that the mention of a big brand name/spokesperson equates to instant interest. Or maybe some folks simply get scared when trying to reach out to bloggers and forget how to speak to the human being at the other end of that email.

A few oldies-but-goodies that I will be closing my week off with:

Thou shalt not blast the world and their mother

It all boils down to relevance. Has the journalist/blogger written something of relevance recently that you can reference in your opener? You won’t know unless you read. Read the papers, read blogs, follow smart people on Twitter and read what they link to. Doing so makes you a smarter communicator…for yourself and for your clients. And for goodness sake, address your email recipient by name.

And your point is..?

Anyone out there a fan of The Big Wiffle Waffle? Not me. You’re reaching out for a reason right? So state what it is. Spending the first 5 lines talking about your client’s history/milestones/messages will get you nowhere fast…except maybe the “Delete” button.

The worst blogger “outreach” emails I’ve come across actually go on to tell the blogger what to do. Example: “In exchange for XYZ, you will write a weekly post about XYZ in your blog and create a YouTube video.”

Think about emails that you personally receive that get your attention. They tell you right up front in the subject line what you’re going to get, and it’s based on understanding what you like and what you want. The same principle applies.

Who said so?

Saying your product/contest/event is cool or exciting usually makes it come across as anything but. Especially if you’re fond of using exclamation points in every other sentence!

Again, go back and focus on the individual at the receiving end of your email. One size does not fit all and that’s the surest way to getting you some solid blogger backlash…online or behind your back.

Lastly AND firstly, listen

Nervousness and insecurity can drive us to be verbose, repetitive and fluffy. So I say stop talking for a minute (or more). Take a step back, look straight at whom you’re talking to and really listen to what they’re saying. Set aside your urge to sell your message and instead try to understand what THEY are looking for. You’ll be surprised how far this simple exercise gets you.

Have a great weekend. And while you’re at it, check out:

• 7 Things to do to Avoid Being Killed by a Blogger in a Pitch
• The Real Difference Between Journalists & Bloggers

During my recent trip to Singapore, I had the opportunity to grab coffee and have a chat with Ben Koe, Employee #3 of JamiQ, a new social media monitoring service which is currently in beta.

I’ve asked Ben a few quick questions about the state of social media across Asia Pacific, what companies should do first before jumping in, and how JamiQ will be different from the array of social media monitoring services currently on the market:

Q. How would you characterise the digital landscape here in Asia Pacific?
Asia Pacific contains some of the most densely connected communities in the world which makes it one of the largest opportunities for digital marketing. However, marketers are still undecided about the effectiveness of engaging online. But this is understandable, while we are certain about the large population that connect online, there is no one best way to reach them.

In order to engage successfully online, marketers need to flip their logic around. Instead of the traditional method of identifying the best media to communicate through, brands can now be their own media. Corporate blogs, community forums, YouTube channels, etc. are all affordable means for companies to establish their presence online and build communities around them. 

Q:  Across APAC, we are seeing an increased interest in social media. Before jumping in, what should organisations do in order to generate real results from their efforts?
Organisations need to take a step back from the hype and observe their brand online. Listening to what’s being said by their customers in the region is the most critical exercise one can perform. The ability to listen gives you the intelligence required to craft an effective communication strategy. Just like how you wouldn’t bother selling in-car stereos to people who take the bus, you need to know what your customers want; and most of the time your customers will not tell you directly, they’ll be telling their friends online.

Too often, marketers are communicating what’s on their agenda completely overlooking the “truth” being talked about on forums or being ranted on blogs. Once you know what your customers or the industry is talking about, you then can make better judgment and strategy for engaging them for your brand before consumer-driven perception takes over.

Q:  How will JamiQ be different from some other social media listening services?
JamiQ’s chief advantage is its reach. This is the foundation of social media monitoring. Just like a search engine, the more web pages the engine can cover the better a service it is. If you read the fine print on some social media monitoring services you’ll find that some claim to have indexed 12 million blogs, another 20 million, and others 100 million. So who’s giving you the full picture?

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The Singapore Law Society broke ground this week by fining a lawyer S$1,000 for giving his views on an ongoing case on his blog.

As reported in The Straits Times:

Mr Alfred Dodwell was taken to task by the society for ‘publicly promoting his view of the witnesses and the merits of an ongoing court proceeding, albeit through the medium of blogs’.

The action, reflected last week in the Government Gazette, was taken as Mr Dodwell ‘had failed to meet the standard of conduct befitting’ a lawyer.

Although no names were mentioned, Mr. Dodwell’s blog entries had enough key details for affected parties to recognize the case, the newspaper reported.

In a follow up story, journalist Serene Luo The Straits Times highlighted that Social Media policy is a new area of concern, well beyond lawyers and doctors, with many companies hastily creating new media guidelines for employees.

Speaking personally, I have had my own fair share of run-ins with new media. In the first instance Facebook ended my marriage and in another Twitter scooped my new job announcement.

Neither one had dramatic consequences on my life, but they served as reminders of new media’s power.

On Wednesday I am participating in a Lunch+Learn Webinar hosted by Citrix Online.  The focus of the Webinar is how organizations can participate on Twitter and meet business objectives. You can register for Webinar here.

I will be sharing the Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence strategy and approach for using Twitter (Follow, Create, & Engage) and talking about how Twitter can be used to help address seven business objectives, ranging from managing a crisis to promoting products and services. I hope you can join, here is the Citrix email message:

Social media tools like Twitter are redefining how your customers and stakeholders interact online. Isn’t it time to see if your business can leverage the power of this microblogging platform?

In this interactive, one hour Lunch+Learn Webinar, you’ll get a step by step breakdown of how the Twitter service works and how to get started using it. Moreover, you’ll be able to engage with industry experts on practical ways to integrate Twitter into your business.

Attend this one-hour Webinar to learn:

• How to get started using Twitter
• Twitter do’s and don’ts
• How businesses of all sizes use Twitter to gain an advantage
• And more…

Lunch+Learn Webinar
Using Twitter to Gain a Competitive Advantage
Wednesday, 8 July
12 noon Australian EST

Speakers:

• Brian Giesen, Director of Digital Strategy, Ogilvy PR
• Jonathan Crossfield, Marketing Manager, Netregistry
• Josh Melman, NETT Magazine Nett Editor, NETT Magazine