Model Actress Wendy Toh reveals new photos of herself

Stylist: Ivan Hoo from In Square
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=h#!/pages/In-Square-Salon/158557247495556

Why the slow take off of Social Media Marketing in Singapore?/ What can I do with social media?

Why the slow take off in Social Media Marketing in Singapore?

Not enough success stories

Marketers like to adopt the wait and see attitude. When budget is of the issue, Marketers try not to commit wholeheartely onto social media until they are very sure that the ROI is substantial. The lack of success stories makes it more difficult for social media marketing to take off in a big manner.

No reputable social media agencies

There are alot of established advertising, PR and online agencies. However, in the realm of social media, there issn't any reputable social media agencies that are championing social media marketing. We saw alot of  reputable agencies & gurus in US paving way for this discipline. However, this is not so much the case in Singapore. Even the number of social media gurus in Singapore is limited to no more than 10, in my opinion.

Fear of change

As mentioned, there is an ongoing debate about traditional media vs new media and how marketers have gotten used to using traditional modes of communications. In the larger scheme of things, most corporations and key managements executives are comfortable with status quo and the fear of change is always embeded into their strategic intent. Hence, they are not convinced to use such platforms for a fear of change and uncertainty.

Not enough research done on social media

There are not many empirical studies done on social media and the effects of advertising on such platforms. I believe the use of social media will only get better when there are many more primary research done on social media.

What can I do with social media?

There are essentially alot of ways to use social media. Below are just some reasons -

Brand building

Brand building is a long term effort and commitment. It taps on all communications platforms and touchpoints we have with consumers. With the increased in internet usage and social media, it is essential that we make use of social media like facebook and twitter to build the equity of our brand.

Promote a new product or service

Needless to say, alot of marketers are using social media to promote and sell a new product. With the cost of traditional media going up, social media becomes a relatively cheaper platform to reach out to our customers.

Event marketing

When social media becomes a way of life,  we are being 'tagged' whereever we go and what else could be a better way to highlight our events than posting pictures of event that happened and/or inviting people to an upcoming event.

Conversational marketing and business relationship marketing

Brands need to personalify themselves to engage customers. By talking to our customers regularly, brands become a part of consumers life, akin to our good friends whom we communicate on the social media.

Customer service relations

Brands like Starhub used twitter as part of their customer service tool.   When consumers know that giving feedback is instantaneous and received almost immediately, they are assured that the comments are registered and taken into consideration. Frustrations are reduced as they know that the communication process is shortened.

Public relations

Social media PR is a new area that most publicist and PR folks are contesting. The various stakeholders are also using social media and hence it is imperative to operate our PR efforts on such channels as well. To me, this is an exciting field to challenge.

Gather feedback for product development & research

Social media could be a channel to gather direct feedback on new products and design.

How Nike uses Social Media?

How Nike uses Social Media?

Blogging: Nike Basketball. Running.Women NFR.

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/nikebasketball


http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/

Mashups: Nike 6.0 action sports community.Nike+ running route finder.

http://nike6.hookit.com/members/nike6/

How Coke uses social Media?

Let's look at some big brands which are using social media to engage their customers

The first case, let's look at Coca-Cola:

Coca Cola uses several platforms to reach out to coke lovers.
1) Blogging: Coca-Cola Conversations discusses company history.


http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/

2) Online video: Sponsored Cans Professional 3. Diet Coke + Mentos by Eepybird.

http://www.eepybird.com/featured-video/the-extreme-diet-coke-mentos-experiments/

3) Social networks: Sprite Sips and CokeTag Facebook applications.

http://www.facebook.com/spritesips

4) Virtual Worlds: Virtual Thirst contest in Second Life to design a vending machine.

http://www.youtube.com/user/VirtualThirst

5) Widgets: Coke Bubbles on Joost.
 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9817934-36.html
 
if big brands are tapping on social media to market their products, i believe its high time marketers consider allocating more advertising and marketing budget on the internet realm.

Quoted in ST IN as social media expert for Web@holics How you get Sucked in

How to integrate Social Media into our Marketing Campaign ( Part 5)

Facebook Phenomenon

More than 200 million active users


More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day

More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college

The fastest growing demographic is 35 and older

And their users are very active:

Average user has 120 friends on the site

More than 4 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day

More than 30 million users update their statuses daily

More than 6 million users become fans of Pages each day


The slide below shows the degree of trust in the various forms of advertising.

Recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising, according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries.

Accordingly to the latest study by Chadwick Martin Bailey, “consumers who are Facebook fans and Twitter followers of a brand are more likely to not only recommend, but they are also more like to buy from those brands than they were before becoming fans/followers…The study also uncovered perceptions among consumers that those brands not engaging in social media are out of touch.”

Hence it is imperative that we invest a certain portion of our budget on online and social media. Enough said.

How to integrate Social Media into our Marketing Campaign ( Part 4)

Let's look at some statistics this morning. Basically, for the first part, Facebook is dominating the social network market in most parts of Asia Pacific. As for the 2nd one, Google and Yahoo continue to dominate the US market in terms of unique visitors. However, in terms of time spent, usage of Facebook far outweights Google and Yahoo, standing at averagely 6hours and 24minutes per person.

1) Top Social Network in Individual Asia Pacific Markets by Percent Reach of Web Population
February 2010 Total Internet Audience*, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix


                                   Top Social Network in Market                  % Reach of Web Population

Asia Pacific                 Facebook.com                                              14.9%

Philippines                  Facebook.com                                               84.5%

Australia                    Facebook.com                                                69.4%

Indonesia                   Facebook.com                                                84.9%

Malaysia                    Facebook.com                                                77.5%

Singapore                  Facebook.com                                                72.1%

New Zealand            Facebook.com                                                 63.6%

Taiwan                     Wretch.cc                                                         62.5%

Hong Kong               Facebook.com                                                 62.6%

India                         Orkut                                                              46.8%

South Korea             CyWorld                                                        54.2%

Vietnam                    Facebook.com                                                18.4%

Japan                       Mixi.jp                                                              18.9%
 
 
 
 
2) Top 10 Web Brands for December 2009 (U.S., Home and Work)


Rank Brand                      Unique Audience (000)                  Time Per Person (hh:mm:ss)

1 Google                           146,700                                         1:40:55

2 Yahoo!                           129,032                                         2:56:35

3 Facebook                       109,905                                         6:24:17

4 MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 108,174                                       1:56:43

5 YouTube                          92,510                                         1:09:38

6 Microsoft                         91,366                                         0:44:39

7 AOL Media Network      88,347                                         2:25:09

8 Amazon                           66,472                                         0:33:37

9 Apple                              63,825                                          1:27:45

10 Fox Interactive Media 61,518 1:31:50

Source: The Nielsen Company

Say Goodbye to Glasses or Contacts

Dr Cheryl Lee, a good friend of mine is holding a few talks in September and October on Implantable Contact lens, an alternative to Lasik. She is one of the few doctors in Singapore who is very passionate  about her practice but yet humane and down to earth at the same time. I highly recommend her if you are looking for an eye surgeon. 

How to integrate Social Media into our Marketing Campaign ( Part 3)

Led by Facebook, Twitter, Global Time Spent on Social Media Sites up 82% Year over Year

Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and

Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively.

Country Unique Audience (000) Time per Person (hh:mm:ss)

                                                    United States 142,052                    6:09:13

                                                               Japan 46,558                      2:50:21

                                                                Brazil 31,345                     4:33:10

                                               United Kingdom 29,129                     6:07:54

                                                     Germany 28,057                           4:11:45

                                                        France 26,786                           4:04:39

                                                          Spain 19,456                           5:30:55

                                                         Italy 18,256                              6:00:07

                                                       Australia 9,895                           6:52:28

                                                      Switzerland 2,451                        3:54:34

 Source: The Nielsen Company

Seven Lessons from playing Volleyball

I have been playing volleyball since I was 14 years old. I admit I've cast this passion aside for several years. Lately my involvement in this sport has picked up and I must say, I am enjoying every bit of it.

I have contested in school's tournament, Singapore's open, Youth championship and have received a decent number of medals. I have made many good friends as well.

Passion for this sport is of Paramount importance. Most people I have met, and who have played well, are people who played with their heart, mind and passion.

Personally i think there are a few lessons which we can learn from this sport.

1) The journey is more important than the outcome
To volleyballers, it is better to have played a great game, put on a good fight, and lost - then to have won with a mediocre showing.

2) Collective over individuality
In volleyball, it is a game where six players need to work together. The focus is very much on the team and not on individual effort.

3) Small is big
We have seen too many seemingly weak teams edging out against the big giants. In volleyball, the  David vs Goliath story is very true.

4) Never say die till the very last minute
We have seen too many teams climbing back and winning the game only towards the very last minute.

5) A good team spirit can move mountains
When all members are focused on one thing. We know success is near.

6) Strategy Strategy Strategy
As in all sports, a sound strategy is needed to conquer your enemy.

7) Play with your heart not emotions.
if we have a sound logical mind, focused and undisturbed, chances are that we will be off for a good game.

So fellow volleyballers - thank you for making this game so enjoyable and likeable.

More about PET/CT Scan

How to integrate Social Media into our Marketing Campaign ( Part 2)

This morning, we will discuss some key points about Communitainment, paradigm shift in new media, psychographics and media habit changes in us with social media.


Understand the concept of Communitainment

Communitainment is the new model for internet usage (community, communication and entertainment)
User generated content is the media
(blogs, discussion, forums, photos and videos sharing)


What is the Paradigm shift with New Media?

1) We don’t want to passively absorb broadcast content.


2) We don’t want more one way communication.

3) People want to be in the driver seat.

4) We want to communicate with creativity.

5) We want to interact in multiple channels, create our own contents and be permanently connected.

6) We are empowered customers.


What are some psychographics changes in us?

1) It’s all about me.


2) I want to let people know about my latest thoughts, rants, opinions.

3) I tend not to listen as much.

4) I want to be engaged.

5) I like to multi-task a lot more.

6) I am a 24/7 publicist.


How about media habit changes?
 
1) I don’t watch television as much.


2) I find listening to music a chore.

3) I don’t write in proper sentences.

4) I log on to my computer first thing when I hit home.

5) I check my mobile phone now and then.

6) I have short attention span when reading newspapers.


Reflect upon yourself, as someone who is a social media user, do you find your media habits and lifestyle changed?
 
I