360DigitalInfluence

In her hit single ‘Single Ladies’, Beyonce says, “if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it”. If only it was that simple. For decades, brands have been trying to ‘put a ring on’ teens. However, few have succeeded in gaining teens’ commitment; they are arguably the most non-committal group of consumers out there. This digitally sophisticated generation is increasingly savvy, wary and fickle. However, with huge spending power, teenagers are the consumers of today and of the future. This has resulted in many brands ‘fishing where the fish are’, upping their online presence with YouTube videos, Facebook profiles and multiple digital campaigns. Still, few have been successful in capturing the hearts (and wallets) of this highly sought after group.

According to the Oxford dictionary, ‘Influence’ is defined as ‘The power or ability to affect someone’s beliefs or actions.’ In order to successfully influence someone, it is essential to gain their respect and trust by actively demonstrating you are interested in them and understand them. In the case of most brands, this merely equates to jumping on the latest digital bandwagon. For example, getting onto Twitter just because ‘every other teen is ‘Tweeting’ these days’. Hanging out in teenage hotspots is one thing, but if a brand doesn’t understand teens’ needs and motivations for being there in the first place, success will merely boil down to luck. It’s no wonder so few brands have succeeded with this challenging group of consumers.

In 2009, Ogilvy Malaysia set out to better understand and effectively influence this elusive group, by conducting research specifically to uncover the role of technology in the life of 15-18 year old Malaysian teens.

3 key discoveries were made:

Firstly, the basic needs of teens have largely remained the same throughout the years.

The 5 basic needs of teenagers have been identified as the need for Self-Expression, 24/7 Communication with Peers, Privacy , Self-Achievement and a Sense of Belonging. All these needs are manifestations of a deeper need for Identity Discovery and Development.

A child’s identity is shaped solely by his or her parents. Upon reaching early teenage years, the need to discover and define one’s self emerges . In helping teens discover who they really are, the opinion of peers take precedence over those of their parents. It becomes exceedingly important for teens to belong and be accepted by their peer groups, to ensure they are not perceived as inadequate. This explains certain cult-like tendencies, such as worshipping the same movie stars, wearing the same clothes and rebelling against traditional authority.

The second discovery is that these digital natives cannot imagine life without technology.

Having grown up in a digital world, this generation lives and breathes technology. Perpetually online and connected 24/7, a 16 year old said “The Internet is like oxygen, when my computer doesn’t work I feel like my world has ended.” (Source: Ogilvy Malaysia 2009 research: ‘The Transitory World of Gen C Teens’). Almost half of Malaysian teens interviewed feel more comfortable expressing themselves on MSN instead of in person , and more than half feel naked without their mobile phone (Source: Ogilvy Malaysia 2009 research: ‘The Transitory World of Gen C Teens’) Technology has become a key part of their lifestyle, integrated in just about everything they do.

Finally, most importantly, a new ‘Transitory World’ has emerged as a result of technology.
For the generations of teenagers who had to discover and develop their identity without the benefits of technology, the process of identity discovery and development was a difficult one, often resulting in high social anxiety for fear of ridicule and rejection.

Thanks to technology, a whole new world has emerged for the teens of today, making this process significantly less painful and intimidating. Located in between their private and public worlds, the ‘Transitory World’ is an experimental buffer zone where teens are able to freely explore, express and experiment with the formulation of their identity before taking the giant leap of showcasing this identity in the public world.

Ubiquitous technological platforms such as mobile phones, social networking sites (SNS), instant messengers (IM) and blogs reside in the ‘Transitory World’. The fast, fluid nature of these tech-platforms assist teens in exploring and defining their identity with immediate affirmation.

SNS and blogs provide teens the canvas to easily create material that can be interacted with, commented on and changed quickly. Teens are able to update their online profile and blogs and receive almost instantaneous comments and feedback from friends. Different groupings on IM and private SNS groups help to further reinforce and establish existing peer groups. Mobile phones allow them to constantly keep their friends in the loop, strengthening their sense of belonging. The ‘Transitory World’ helps mitigate the anxiety, embarrassment, and humiliation teens often experienced during the crucial transition from their private world to the public world.

The ‘Transitory World’ is a fertile, safe-haven, where teens are receptive and open-minded. As it is still relatively untapped and uninhabited by brands, there is a huge opportunity for first-movers to greatly influence and impact teenagers. To do this, brands firstly need to realize the existence of such a world. They also need to understand how to best use technology to assist teens in meeting their basic needs, using the right technology platforms to meet their different needs.

By navigating and optimizing the ‘Transitory World’, brands will be finally be able to engage, influence and ‘put a ring’ on this highly prized group of consumers.

It’s been 1 year and just over 2 days since the closure of Yahoo 360, affecting the blogging community in Vietnam tremendously.

Hot bloggers have died, most of them, and now come a new breed of influencers. The replacement of Yahoo 360Plus cant seem to have the same drive, affect and influence it once has. Most hot bloggers have moved out of the old shelter and some adopted facebook for refuge.

Still ranking highly at the top list is Robbey McNificent (Lê Minh Mẫn). This guy is a phenomenon just as his name suggested. Spreading his influence over both facebook (with 3 accounts), to his regular blog on wordpress to the local social media sites yume, blog tamtay, Zing, and here is the comprehensive list.

http://robbey.info

http://robbey.cu.to

http://robbeydeptrai.wordpress.com/

http://yume.timnhanh.com/robbey

http://vn.myblog.yahoo.com/robbey-deptrai

http://yobanbe.zing.vn/highlandmanle

http://robbey.multiply.com/

http://robbeydeptrai.blogspot.com/

http://www.tamtay.vn/home/Robbey

http://www.facebook.com/robbey.deptrai

(note: dep trai = đẹp trai = handsome)

Robbey is known for his connection with the showbiz and entertainment celebrities including his frequent controversial commentaries. He has recently opened a new company titled Robbey Communications. With an average of 9,000 friends on facebook sites and up to 2million pageview for his blog, Robbey can be considered a true ‘Magnificent’.

Another survivor is Mèo Ác
Her blog focus on food and lifestyles featuring her experience with restaurants, cafes, and the entertainment business. She still maintains a relatively high presence across other social media sites.

http://meoac.multiply.com

http://www.facebook.com/meowistoc

http://www.facebook.com/luccie.nguyen

Although content is mostly quite general, Mèo Ác has a steady fan base. So maybe ‘spreading’ does have some effect on maintaining your presence on the radar.

Gào – a true writer that has also stand the test of ‘Yahoo360’ time. She has been writing since 2005 and published a few books offline. Young, pretty, and romantic, Gào shared her personal touches through love fictions to readers and her beauty care regime and know-how on both her site and facebook fan page

What have replaced the hot bloggers culture? A new trend of celebrities’ page and facebook page has taken up the space, including MC, models, actors and actresses. Some of them write (particularly the MC) mostly on Notes pages and Pictures Sharing, some don’t even bother.

Apart from the celebrities culture, perhaps there are bound to have ‘influencers’ that are soon to be discovered.

This video on Social Media in APAC created for a recent internal meeting of our regional Digital Influence team. Enjoy!

Colleagues, clients and friends often ask me how they should go about creating a social media strategy for their companies. My answer to them is that they don’t need one!

With a perplexed look on their face they say “But that’s your job, is it not?”

Well, I am afraid that my job is not to create social media strategies for companies, simply because I believe that they don’t need one! What every company needs to do though, is to incorporate social media into everything that they do and that is not the same as creating a stand alone social media strategy.

Social media is not a new management discipline or a new functional area that your company needs to create a strategy for. Social media is simply a bunch of tools, platforms and technology that allows for content to be co-created, relationships to be built, communities to be created and conversations to take place in a manner that has never been possible!

Social Media goals are derived goals

I repeat. Your company does not need a social media strategy. What your company does need to do however, is to incorporate social media into almost every other strategy or plan that it has. This means that social media needs to be a part of your marketing strategy, public relations strategy, HR strategy, customer service strategy and maybe even your finance strategy.

Maybe you do need someone to coordinate your company wide social media efforts, but that is not the same creating a social media strategy.

It is satisfying to observe the spring in people’s steps when they start looking at social media as an enabler and a tool that will help them achieve their goals in a more effective manner rather than yet another 100 page strategy document that they need to churn out!

The first in a new monthly series of reports monitoring social media buzz about World Expo 2010 Shanghai says tickets to the big event is the hottest topic online.

Launched today by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, and CIC, an Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) research and consulting firm, ExpoSay is a monthly report on Chinese language IWOM – or Social Media buzz – related to World Expo 2010 Shanghai.

“This report’s findings show how China’s netizens are already discussing many aspects Shanghai Expo, from tickets to pavilions to sponsors,” said Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific Director, 360 Digital Influence, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. “Chinese consumers can make or break brands online, so listening is the first step to developing a powerful strategy to engage them.”

Ticket-related topics were the subject of most online Expo chatter in December and phrases about “what to buy” and “how to buy” the tickets became the most popular keywords.

The increase of ticket prices to 150 RMB from 140 RMB announced in mid-December brought predictable criticism, but also some interesting responses. Some companies, such as the e-commerce site yihaodian.com, have started offering their customers tickets at the lower, initial price. Even Shanghai’s Jingan district is offering tickets as incentives for those touring historic Communist sites. This has served as a high-profile, attractive and relatively low cost promotion.

Meanwhile, students are using Social Media to self-organize to purchase tickets at group discounts and many people are discussing the technology behind the Expo’s mobile phone-based tickets. Netizens living in rural China have been using discussion boards as a way to find tickets.

To receive a copy of the report, simply register at Ogilvy PR’s World Expo Blog.

Korea’s second most popular search engine, Daum is preparing to launch its own Social Network Service called Yozm (http://yozm.daum.net).

Various modification of a Twitter-like services have developed in Korea to better serve Koreans’ socializing habit, needs and interest:
-me2day(www.me2day.net by NHN Naver), Twitter-like service instead offers 150 words
-sfoon(www.sfoon.com by Nurien), Connects your twitter, Me2day, Flickr, You Tube accounts in one viewing convenience
-itgling(www.itgling.co.kr by Mediare), socializing with people who share similar web surfing/using pattern rather than choosing to follow or request to be friends

So, how is Yozm different from the rest?

Well, first of all, Yozm, meaning “nowadays” in Korean, allows the user to select/type in
- What you like
- What you dislike
- What you are good at
- Where you go often to find friends.

Under each category, the user can enter up to three things, which can be changed at anytime.
This function, not offered in Twitter and Me2day allows the user to quickly socialize by allocating and becoming friends with people who share similar taste and lifestyle.

Like me2day offers 150 words to input a message but it also allows the users to upload image (not just a link) to the message box.

Yozm is being tested through active social media users now. It is expected to launch sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Pic 2:   1) 150 word message   2) upload image, link, direct msg to a friend   3) view option (my msg, reply, favorite, private)

An annual survey of Chinese consumers by McKinsey took time to highlight the power of Social Media in China.

China really is a global-standard country in terms of involvement in Social Media by consumers. The landscape is, of course, radically different from other countries due to government censorship policies, but Chinese are incredibly involved in Social Media as a trusted source of information on many topics.

Samples vs Word of Mouth

The McKinsey study points to the influence of Social Media in terms beauty products in China, which is  we at Ogilvy have found to be totally true.

McKinsey found: 66 percent of Chinese consumers would be influence in the purchase of a moisturizer by recommendations of friends and family, while just 38 percent would be in the US and UK. By contrast 66 percent of UK and British consumers say that free samples could sway them, compared with 20 percent in China.

Excerpt from the McKinsey report:

The Internet is an increasingly important marketing tool. All the online media vehicles we tracked in our survey, including online advertisements, product articles, blogs, and forums, have significantly increased their impact (SEE CHART ONE). Consumers even rate the credibility of blogs and online forums higher than traditional TV ads.

This had an enormously positive impact for the company: word of mouth combined with 19,000 blogs encouraged drinkers to switch to Wang Laoji. One blogger developed the slogan: “If you’re going to donate, donate 100 million. If you’re going to drink, drink Wang Laoji.” This consumer-created ad was distributed widely online. The sales volume of Wang Laoji increased by 25 percent at one supermarket chain the month after the earthquake, and by 35 percent at one restaurant chain.

The below announcement is regarding a Social Media strategist position in our Shanghai office, but we are looking elsewhere in Asia as well, including Malaysia.

Are you the right person? Shoot me an email: thomas.crampton at ogilvy dot com

We need an ace Digital professional in Shanghai who knows the Internet and Social Media in China.

Your qualities? You have a passion for the changes in digital and communications. You get things done. You are supremely organized. You are always learning. You hate when things are not done as well as they could be. You are enthusiastic and love team work. You are curious about everything.

Today we held the third in our series of Executive’s Guide to Social Media, done in cooperation with GoToWebinar and The Wall Street Journal.

I moderated the session in which Digital Influence Global Managing John Bell and Managing Director of the Global Public Affairs Practice Jamie Moeller presented on how to deal use Social Media in a crisis.

As always there were great questions and discussion afterwards. You can hear all the questions and answers (as well as the presentation) on this video of the presentation.

Watch this blog for the timing of our next session!

Social Media for Crisis Management from 360 Digital Influence on Vimeo.

Third in our series of Executive’s Guide to Social Media, Social Media for Crisis Management presented by John Bell and Jamie Moeller

Faster Louder brings music to my ears. Literally. It’s home to just shy of 60,000 Australian rock music fans, and with almost 25,000 forum threads, over half a million posts, countless gig reviews, photos, blogs and groups, it does a truly stellar job of creating a home for musician and music lovers like. It’s one of the four community sites run by The Sound Alliance. All of their sites are focused on music and young adult culture in Australia. Among them is also inthemix, which is ranked #1 in the NetRatings Music & Radio category.

Having just celebrated its 5th birthday, Faster Louder is hardly what one would class as new, but even as a social media veteran, FL hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to keeping up to speed with all things social. There are so many features, I wouldn’t know where to begin. But, I’ll try.

Faster Louder has an army of over 2000 active contributors who are constantly reviewing, podcasting, interviewing, photographing, filming and sharing their love of music with like minded fans. Once you set yourself up on the site, you start having a personalised user experience straight away, with all the relevant gig listings and reviews for your city being available to you. If you like any photos, reviews or articles, you simply click the “I heart this” button, and it will be bookmarked to your profile, so you can start searching for like minded music-lovers to connect with on FL. Similarly, any events you’re going to will be added to your social calendar, so if you’re looking for a concert buddy you only need to check who else is going.

Competitions are constantly being added, so you’re never short of great chances to win experiences that money can’t buy. Pretty much anything you see or do in FL, you can broadcast it to the rest of your social networks, and if you’re on twitter, you can follow @fasterlouder to be updated every time there are new reviews, concert announcements or competitions. The crew at Faster Louder have also done a great job of connecting their community in real life: hosting parties and gatherings and members only gigs. What can I say? I’m a fan!

So, whether or not you’re a music-lover, I can’t recommend Faster Louder enough. Click around; become a member; take a look at how people who GET social, DO social.