You’ve heard about Web 2.0. How about a Credit Card 2.0? That’s the evolution of credit cards – really cool features, secured, water and scratch proof. Imagine a card that can tie in multiple accounts into one card, password protected, hide certain digits of your card number with a push of a button (yes, a button), but yet retain it’s card-like plastic features and remains just as thin!
All in all, it is definitely what credit cards should be like right now!
According to the creators of Card 2.0 (Dynamics Inc.), several banks in the States are already undergoing stealth testing with prototype cards and may be launching soon, although an exact date is still unavailable at this moment.
My description of Card 2.0 does not do justice to this awesome innovation. Hear it from them directly in the video below, thanks to Mashable (note: it is pretty noisy so you may want to jack up your volume a little lot!
So, what do you think? I can so imagine myself carrying one of these right away!
“However, the video does not tell us where the battery will come from and it may be really costly for them to produce these in the mass. Plus, security may still be a problem since passwords aren’t exactly safe as well. Let’s see how far this innovation will be able to travel as Cards may not be THE next generation for payment! For all we know, Google may just come up with a Google Bank that allows you to use your Google Account sign-in at banks and transactions… scary much”
How often have you wanted to harness the potential of social media but been too unwilling to commit to the changes required (i.e. still holding on to your previous mindset)? I managed to come across this Dilbert comic strip that somewhat resembles what we looked at previously about the mindset of today’s business owners and entrepreneurs in Malaysia regarding social media:
Although the comic strip may seem to have exaggerated things a little (especially when we now know most people associate social media with Facebook and Twitter) but it does carry some truth in it. Perhaps it may happen like this instead in Malaysia (adapted from above):
True, isn’t it? Most traditional businesses sees social media as merely a trend that they wish to participate in but yet unwilling to accept it fully. Little did they know that social media has grown beyond just a trend or a technology – but a lifestyle, an integral part in consumer engagement, extension of networks, and it is here to stay.
Still skeptical? Apart from just pumping you up with the potential reach of people you can be connected with, here are 5 simple reasons on why you should get started with social media for your business if you haven’t already:
1. Public Engagement
Now before you turn around click away saying that you’ve heard of this a million times already, listen to this once more: engagement builds trust, a bridge towards your brand, it creates a perception and an emotion towards it. This can become your brand’s distinguishing factor against your competitors. Like it or not, people already have perceptions towards your brand regardless.
If they’ve never heard of you before, chances are, you have to give it double the effort to convince them as compared to a brand that is already well engaged with the public and this is something traditional marketing (or advertising) can’t do.
“Traditional advertising is a 1-to-many, one-way relationship while social media is a 1-to-[1]-to-many, two-way relationship. It takes two hands for a brand to clap and that [1] makes a difference. That [1] is your tie to the mass, and also your brand advocate, your key for an applause.”
2. Earned Media vs Paid Media
Which do you prefer? People talking about you or paid to talk about you. Don’t get me wrong, paid media isn’t wrong by all means as advertorials, reviews and the likes DO WORK, even better if you have a strong influencer on your side but some business owners or entrepreneurs do have their hands tied when it comes to budgets, especially for a startup and earned media is well, free!
A little bit of time and effort will get you a long way. Think about it, where else do you have the opportunity to share your knowledge, thoughts and expertise in articles or in any other media form at no cost, with a huge base of potential non-geographically constrained readers? That’s the World Wide Web for you and all you need is just a little dedication to maintain and to promote your masterpieces!
“It is beyond just a ‘following’ online, but the credibility you build for yourself / brand / business along with it.”
3. Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Apart from just communicating with consumers, receiving feedbacks, support, sales and promotions, social media can also be used as an avenue for your customers to tell their story i.e. testimonials. Nothing beats a first-hand story, whether good or bad that comes from your existing customers as it will be able to attract new customers along the way!
Yes, this also means that your existing customers will be ‘selling’ your brand to their networks on your behalf, without having you to spend extra time and money to try convince everyone on the street on how good you are. It will now be customer-get-customer rather than brand-get-customer. Sharing – that’s how information travel on the social media, and it happens with just a click.
“They say sharing is caring. On social media, sharing is business.”
[PAUSE:] If at this point you’ve still been wondering:
1. On how this social media ‘thingy’ can actually do ALL of the above, or
2. Is the social media ‘idea’ too confusing? or
3. You find that I’m no longer speaking in English, then:
Check out this video I found on YouTube – explaining social media in plain, simple English and how social media can benefit you, your brand, your customers AND your prospects!
Hopefully that cleared things up better!
Okay, back to business: On to the fourth!
4. Measurable
Unlike traditional advertising, results can easily be measured on social media. With the availability and free access to various tools such as Google Analytics, Feed Burner, number of fans / followers / friends / likes and more, one can generate a detailed report about their reach as compared to traditional means.
For example, Google Analytics (to the left) will be able to indicate the amount of page views, average time spent on your site, where they are from, how did they managed to land on your site and other information that helps you understand your readers more. This is definitely one thing you’ll never be able to obtain out of traditional means. In other words, ‘success’ is now determined based on your influence rather than reach, quality over quantity (but then again, quantity is also achievable on social media).
5. It Works
Yes. It works! Businesses all over the world have implemented and integrated social media into their business modal do have results to show! Whether it is sales, higher traffic, enquiries or feedback, it worked for them. No reason for it to fail, if you’re committed in making it happen. And no, they did not pump cash to make it work. Social media made it work for them.
Want to know how others implemented social media in their business? Hang in there as I’ll be revealing some of them right here, at janwong.my in the coming days! You may be surprised to see how these brands and businesses used social media to drive results up their doorstep – powerful yet simple. Chances are, you may just be able to replicate their success in your business!
Conclusion..
There you go, 5 simple reasons on why social media should be implemented in business operations and marketing efforts. There are of course, even more reasons on implementing social media but in the end, the key is your mindset, perception and how far a brand is willing to go with it.
Remember, only you can determine whether social media makes or breaks your business… why go with the latter? :)
… many have made it, what say you?
How else do you see social media impacting your business / life?
Just hours ago, Twitter introduced a new design for Twitter.com to provide a better user experience. I think most of us can testify that the older version lacked luster, causing many to use 3rd party apps / sites to make tweeting a simpler thing to do.
This new version now runs on a dynamic two-paned format and to me, it feels like browsing on an iPad.. with a mouse, that is. The first pane contains the Twitter timeline, basically what you’re already seeing today. The second pane is what makes things different as users will now be able to see additional details related to the author or the tweet, the user profile, @replies and you’ll also be able to view images, maps and videos directly from Twitter itself without leaving the page, giving less reason for users to leave the site, going into YouTube, TwitPic and the likes!
To me, this is definitely a smart yet long delayed implementation since almost everyone shares media over Twitter although 1 of my favourite function still hasn’t been implemented yet – ‘conversations’ i.e. grouping @replies together under 1 conversation for easier reading, just like how Gmail does it. Nevertheless, it is interesting though, to see how mere 140 characters can evolve to how it is today.
And oh, the promotional video for the #NewTwitter is also pretty cool! I like how they did it – illustrating the concept of sharing through Twitter AND the new design of Twtter.com. Very well done!
So here it is, the #NewTwitter! Simply head over to Twitter.com and log in to see the newly updated changes! If you do not see it, don’t worry as it will eventually come as they’ll be doing a progressive update worldwide. If you’re wondering what the changes actually are, you can also check out the new specs over here!
As you may already know, the Online Social Media or the infamous Web 2.0 / 3.0 is the marketing trend of today’s business environment. Marketeers are using it to their advantage world wide and social media does not seem to be putting on brakes anytime soon as in continues to evolve.. rapidly!
Malaysia is definitely not out of the picture. This Online Social Media‘concept’ is also seen to be the IN thing for businesses and many have been (or at least, trying to) implementing this concept in their corporate strategies. As per every business execution, some made it and some didn’t.
Why, you ask? Let’s first explore the mindset of the business owners and entrepreneurs towards social media – I recently came across many business owners and entrepreneurs lately that seem to have their own interpretation of this ‘concept’ that has been reaping great results globally.
Here’s a summary of responses I manage to gather from the conversations I had with them regarding Online Social Media:
Although none of the above is entirely wrong, but as expected, terms such as ‘Facebook’, ‘Blog’ and ‘Bloggers’ came out most often and is found to be their very first reply e.g. “usage of Facebook and blogs…”. It would also seem that to some of them, social media means inviting bloggers to write about a certain happening / product / advertorial. Some says it is an additional avenue for promotion and sales, a tool to target the younger generation and the list goes on..
It is sad to see that many business owners today still have their own interpretation and mindsets, and has yet to come to realize and see the importance of Online Social Media in Malaysia, seeing it as merely a tool or an extension of their business instead of integrating social media as PARTof their business. Hence, they see it as a only a ‘concept’, a ‘good to have’ but not a ‘must have’, a ‘trend’ but not ‘real business’.
How about you? What is your interpretation of the Online Social Media?
I was browsing around this morning and managed to stumble across this interesting advert or what they called an ‘experiment’ – to loose 100 cats into an IKEA store in Wembley to “see what happens”. If you happen to love IKEA or cats, then this may be something you want to watch:
From what I can make from the video, the team at IKEA brought their cats from home (100 in total) and released them into the store and let them (the cats) do whatever they want! Watch them burrow into the sofas, screech, jump about and get trapped IN the store!
Definitely an interesting idea to me as you’ll rarely find another furniture store doing the same thing. Fun, unconventional and worth mentioning. Effectiveness? That’s up to you to decide (especially if you’re allergic to cat fur) but the cats do really make cat lovers go ‘awwww’ in this advert – an attraction for them to visit IKEA? Definitely :)
No matter what others may think, with over 150,000 views on YouTube for this video, IKEA has already managed to piqued the interest of many with this simple marketing technique and got their brand out there within less than a day! Ingenious and successfully buzz purr-worthy! After all, doing something unconventional IS one of the secrets in creating buzz.
Speaking of IKEA, I may have to pay them a visit soon to get myself a drawer unit for my work desk.
“Do I want to find a trapped cat in my IKEA drawer? Nah, maybe not..”
If you’ve been using Google lately, you’ve most likely came across a couple of things (or differences) just within this couple of days!
First up, the Google logo doodle was seen to be in balls on www.google.co.uk (not anymore)!
What’s so special about this, you ask? Seen cooler doodles than this? Check out what happens when you ‘touch’ the doodle with your mouse cursor:
How cool is that? What’s even cooler is that when you move your browser window around, the balls actually move accordingly!
Now, if you managed to catch a glimpse at the subsequent update to the Google doodle, it looked something like this:
When you first load up Google.com, the doodle will be in grey and it colours up as you enter a search query. Nothing great compared to the earlier doodle? This update actually launched Google Instant – a real-time search overhaul to the existing search features.
What does it do? It is capable of predicting results AS YOU TYPE! And, the results are predicted and displayed real-time based on the popularity of the sites so you’ll probably get “Amazon” when you type “A”, “Facebook” for “F” and so on, without having to press ‘enter’! Don’t believe me? Try it out right now at Google.com as it is already up and running!
Searching is now more convenient and much quicker with Google Instant :)
Want to know what took place behind the scenes leading up towards MOFEW 2010?
If you haven’t heard, the first ever Malaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneurs’ Weekend 2010 has held from the 13th – 15th August 2010 at the Mid Valley Exhibition Center (Hall 3) with a 3-fold objective to highlight the online fashion scene in Malaysia, to encourage online entrepreneurship and to encourage entrepreneurs in giving back to the society, and the crowd was HUGE! We had almost 40,000 visitors and for us, the project team to see the entire event come to life, it was definitely awesome and has marked the beginning of an even more successful and exciting MOFEW in the future!
Of course, the project team is also aware of various comments and feedbacks made, and we apologize if we were unable to meet up to your expectations as we also have our limitations and setbacks for this debut. Nevertheless, thank you for your feedbacks as it will indeed help us further our plans to make things even more enjoyable than it is now :)
Alright, back to the topic! The MOFEW idea came about in September 2009 as a very simple event for Online Fashion Entrepreneurs to collaborate with an established fashion boutique to showcase their wares and goodies. Through the planning however, the project team found the idea to be just another ‘event’, without any edge at all as we agreed that MOFEW will not be an event without depth and scalability. The idea was then scrapped and revamped into what it is today, a high level platform for Online Fashion Entrepreneurs to stand out and to be made known to the mass public, educating them on the presence of the online fashion scene.
With the idea at hand, it was time to secure the venue– we needed a location that can drive traffic, convenient, and big enough for a first time event to make an impression: the KLCC, PWTC or the MVEC? Wanting to hit the shopping crowd, MVEC was selected due to it’s strategic location, located within the Mid Valley Megamall itself! As expected, it came with a hefty price tag, a 6 figure amount with construction, electricity and a list of miscellaneous charges e.g security guards, cleaners and etc.
Time to work the costings! Wanting to keep rental affordable for participants, we also needed corporate partners to drive the event alongside us. Not just any partner, but those having the same vision with MOFEW– to impact the online fashion scene in Malaysia. With the help of our partners, each booth was priced significantly lower than the normal exhibition rates – only RM390 / 490 compared to RM3k to RM10k in most exhibitions!
To turn things up a notch, we launched the MOFEW iPhone App on iTunes over 92 countries and subsequently, collaborated with I.M. Magazine and Malaysian Today to go around universities (i.e. roadshows) to spread the word about MOFEW and to give out 30,000 Mysterious Markers as an invitation for MOFEW 2010. It is also about then where we launched MOFEW: The Search, a competition among the Online Fashion Entrepreneurs to determine who is the best of them all, putting both their fashion and entrepreneurial skills to test!
Then came 12th August 2010, the day where we laboured and toiled to put the entire exhibition together. I’ll let the video below do the talking for this one, courtesy of HooHaa.my:
With the construction done, then began MOFEW 2010 on the 13th August 2010!
Thank you all for making MOFEW 2010 happen! The project team members @briansiew, @isaaccheah, @randytoo and @sarahtym; Official photographers @feeqsays, @JonYKT, @xiangcool, @azrinarizz and Shutter Blaster; Official videographersHooHaa.my; Partners, sponsors, exhibitors, friends and everyone else that has been an awesome support!
It’s alive! After quite a bit of procrastinating, I finally went through the hassle of getting my very own domain name up and running, in conjunction with a series of personal testing projects that will be taking place.
Oh, if you’ve somehow wandered around and crash landed over here, my name is Jan Wong and you’re looking at the very first post on this site. Though I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for quite a bit, janwong.my is where I’ll be making my appearance again by sharing my thoughts, knowledge, projects and happenings around myself.
I somehow cannot resist the urge to talk about the infamous “Hello World” (although I talk about it all the time in previous posts elsewhere and anywhere). If you didn’t know, The “Hello World” term started back then in 1974 as a simple (simplest!) program of all time and has won global recognition till today! This term was then made famous by a book: The C Programming Language as it became the traditional first program many people learn to code. It is so simple that even people who have no previous experience with computer programming can easily understand it, especially with a written guide.
int main(){
printf("hello, world");return 0;
}
“Hello World” has been used across the world by programmers (even hackers) ever since as dummy texts, dummy error messages, sanity tests and a proof of concept. Jargons aside, it simply a way for devices/programs to say “I Am Alive!” and for humans, it simply means “It Works!” in a more friendly, IT way! :)
Having that said, I shall conclude this post by saying.. Hello World!
True, isn’t it? Most traditional businesses sees social media as merely a trend that they wish to participate in but yet unwilling to accept it fully. Little did they know that social media has 
[PAUSE:] If at this point you’ve still been wondering:
Hopefully that cleared things up better!
Conclusion..
