Author Archives: Jan Wong

Brand Focus #3: The One Thing That Should NOT Happen on #SocialMedia for Your Business

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We all know how social media spreads both the good and bad and your business should be careful on what and how you’re responding to your customers. A couple of weeks ago I shared on how just one dissatisfied customer can lead to 10,000 dissatisfactions and you will most definitely want to pay attention to the below screenshot of a conversation on Facebook below:

social media mishaps in malaysiaAre You Listening Attentively?

Clearly the company above isn’t. Sure they are responding quickly to the complain but addressing the customer wrongly takes away the merit – especially calling him / her “shameful”. Good thing the company spotted the error and apologized not too long after but that has remained as a joke in Malaysia for days.

What Can You Learn Out Of This?

#1: Double and triple check before posting. I know most companies have a standard template reply and have grown to use them a bit too much resulting in simple errors such as inconsistency in addressing the customer’s name or in situations such as the above.

#2: Train your staff / social media manager. This may sound like common sense but from what happened above, there IS a possibility that the person you’ve put in-charge may not know their way around the tool (in this case, Facebook) well.

#3: Know your language. I’ve to admit that not everyone may be excellent in English, especially when it comes to writing but know this – if your audience is proficient in English, make sure your employees are proficient in English;likewise for any other languages be it Chinese, French, Spanish or Arabic.

#4: Don’t respond for the sake of responding. Are you sure that post / comment / feedback meant what you think it is saying? Are you making assumptions? Responding on social media platforms have a major advantage – time. Unlike over the phone where conversations become awkward if you take too long to reply, you can afford to take some time to read, re-read AND re-read to make sure you’re getting it right before responding.

#5: Admit your mistake and make up for it. Although it has already become a joke, it is important for you to own up to your mistakes and not to sweep them under the mat. NEVER delete them to cover your tracks. Accept it, respond to it positively and do not let the jokes bother you too much. Lesson learnt!

What is the one thing you think should not happen in businesses on social media? Do share them below :)

How Much Should You Spend on Setting Up Your #SocialMedia Presence?

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This topic have been really hot lately in Malaysia due to a recent “finding” where Tourism Malaysia stated that they’ve spent RM1.8M (about USD600k) to create 6 tourism Facebook pages to promote the tourism industry in Malaysia. This caused quite a stir among the public, leading to tons of complains and debates both online and offline. If you’re interested, click here to know the full story and here are the clarifications made by Tourism Malaysia.

As I followed the news closely, it is interesting to see remarks made by various individuals and some of them can relate to how businesses react to social media integration today when it comes to $.

free parking on social media?“Social media is FREE. Why do I need to pay?”

Sounds familiar?

While most social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are free where you can simply ‘park’ your brand / business on a page, there are several areas that don’t come cheap – especially if you’re thinking of an elaborated campaign or planning to hire someone to do the job for you. Having that said, randomly putting aside a figure won’t do you good. At the very least, consider the following areas:

How Should You Plan Your Social Media Budget?

1. Consider Your Expertise

– Do you have the knowledge and / or the skills to manage social media tools?
– Will you be doing the job or are you hiring?
– Do you have a team to determine the social media strategy?
– Do you even have a social media strategy? (hint: creating a Facebook page to get as many likes as possible is NOT a strategy)
– Do you need a consultant to help you with your social media strategy?
– Do you have the technical skills to execute those strategies (if required. e.g. Facebook apps)

2. Consider the Promotion Itself

– How will you go about promoting your social media presence (blogger write-ups, reviews, online advertising, email marketing, etc)?
– How big of a team is required to carry out the promotion?

3. Consider Long-Term

– Who will be managing (i.e. creating content, engaging, monitoring, etc) the social media accounts?
– Will it managed in-house or outsourced?
– Do you need a consultant to keep you on track?

Considering all of the above, you should be able to tell by now that social media CAN cost quite a bit or it could cost you nothing but time and effort if you’re doing all of it alone. It is interesting to note that even though many feel uncomfortable spending on social media, a recent study indicated that businesses plans to spend more on social media in 2011 as compared to 2010.

Need an idea on how much to spend? Click here to take a look at this survey done in the US.

On top of that, companies (especially experienced ones) are also seen outsourcing the design and development, content creation and analytics to social media agencies instead [source].

Social Media Spending Trending Up

How much do you think businesses should spend on social media? What are the areas they should consider the most?

 

The #SocialMedia Dot-Com Mentality

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The dot-com era was the beginning of really exciting times. It was revolutionary. It was the beginning of people willing to spend money for something that is intangible like a .com domain name. We can definitely learn a lot from those days. A couple of weeks I go I wrote about 5 lessons we can learn from the dot-com boom and bust and that’s not all!

Mentality #1: Let’s play monopoly

social media monopoly - a dot-com mentality on social media

It is interesting that many businesses create a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account just because it is “the right thing to do”, to keep up with technology just like how .com domain names were sold like hotcakes during the dot-com boom. Businesses are busy securing .com sites social media accounts even though they have no plans of using them.

While that may seem like a normal thing to do, social media is a different playing field altogether especially if you’re registering the accounts under a similar name such as your brand or company name. A simple query on Google will be able to reveal all of them… buried with dust, which ultimately affects your credibility.

Mentality #2: If it’s online, it’s global

During the dot-com boom, many had the impression that as long they have a website, they can easily be found. True, but also VERY wrong. It is true that if you’ve a website or a social media account your business is accessible globally. However the question is – whether you can be found among the mass of information and websites out there. Even if Facebook has 600 million users, it does not guarantee you 600 million impressions if you have a Facebook page. In fact, it takes hard work to even get your first 1,000 followers if you’re a small business.

Remember, social media is merely a tool – you’ll still need to get down and get it to work for you and people today often rely on search engines and personal recommendations (e.g. Facebook likes, Tweets, blogs and comments) to locate what they need online.

Mentality #3: Information (Part 1) – That’s all I need on my website

Yes, information is important and it still is today. Imagine yourself going onto a website only to find nothing about that particular business. It sure defeats the purpose of having a website. The thing is, businesses should also understand that people today demand more than just information.

Let me ask you this question: would you rather buy from someone that has only pure information or someone with an updated blog and perhaps an active Facebook page?

What makes things worse are sites that have dates beneath their home page that dates back to the past. Does that imply that you’re out of business in the present day?

Mentality #4: Information (Part 2) – The more the merrier

Remember how websites looked back then? Presenting to you the all-powerful frames:

website with frames

It was really something. Businesses were able to display even more information within a single screen. But is that the case today? Clearly not. In fact, search engines are not very happy with frames. Sites today display a minimalistic outlook to simplify the message – doing away with jargons and boring texts. Is your website overloaded with information? Less is more!

Mentality #5: The almighty enquiry form

The enquiry form is perhaps one of the most important addition to almost every business websites out there. After all, it is one of the easiest way for customers to keep in touch with you. Don’t get me wrong – it still is a powerful tool today. The question is – is it enough?

I don’t know about you but I personally do not like enquiry forms especially if I only have a short / simple question to ask. I’d rather leave a comment, a post on their Facebook wall or a Tweet. Imagine filling in all the fields on the enquiry form just to ask “are you open this weekend?”. Plus, there somehow is a feeling of a ‘black hole’ when submitting an enquiry form – you do not know whether it is actually sent. On social media platforms, you know they’ve received it for sure.

Do you fall into any one of the mentalities above? What other dot-com mentalities have you noticed today? I’d love to hear them :)

 

Brand Focus #2: Basic Customer Service Mistakes You Don’t Want to Bring onto #SocialMedia

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I was hungry one afternoon and I did not want to leave the house as it has been really hot where I’m at lately. I thought that since I’ve not had pizza for quite some time, I could just order one and have it delivered within 30 minutes – after all, that’s their service promise. To top if off, they now have a tracking service so I’ll know where my pizza is at. Cool!

Dominos Pizza Malaysia

So I placed my order at 2.32pm, expecting it to arrive at 3.02pm and you’ve guessed it – it did not arrive then. “No problems”, I thought. “I’ll just get a free pizza on my next order and delays do happen anyway.”

3.15pm and the pizza has yet to arrive and this is where I decided to put Dominos Malaysia’s customer service to test. I called up the call centre and reported my “missing” pizza in which they told me that perhaps the rider was lost and advised me to give him another 5 minutes else I should call them back.

10 minutes passed, 3.30pm and still no sign of the pizza. I called Dominos as they told me to and they told me to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes and that there is nothing that he (the sales rep) can do to help. Shocked by his reply, I probed further and he then said his manager may be able to do something about it but he isn’t free at the moment and mentioned that the manager will call me back the moment he is free.

The verdict? 3 days have passed, no calls received.

This incident reminds me of my past experience with another company.

3 Basic Customer Service Mistakes That Should NOT Be Brought To Social Media

Lesson #1: Don’t Assume If You Aren’t Sure

5 minutes. Are you sure? If there’s one thing in common in most customer service personnel, they give inaccurate information or in other words, false hope. They give a solution that is of most convenient to them and hope that it’ll never come back to them.

On social media platforms, it is worse. When a customer posts a question or complain on your blog / Facebook page / timeline, they are most likely already confused or dissatisfied with you and should be handled with care. If you do not know the answer, seek for help or offer to discuss the solution privately via email (and get someone to help you out!). Do not ever give answers for the sake of giving them.

Lesson #2: Be Careful of What You Speak

customer service on social media - think before you speakLike it or not, you’re representing your brand and saying “I can’t do anything to help” can be detrimental, even though it was not meant in that way. This may be more difficult to do over the phone but you’ve got no excuse if it is on the computer screen.

Take some time to structure your words before clicking on the “submit”, “update” or “tweet” button.

Lesson #3: Do What You’ve Said You’ll Do… and Don’t Take Too Long

The last thing customer wants is to wait. Get back to them within the shortest time frame possible! If you’ve said you would call, email or reply to their enquiry, do so! I personally think that no business should take more than 24 hours to respond. Anything more will clearly spell out to the customer that you’re N.O.T.I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.E.D.

It won’t look good if the same customer posts on your wall for the 2nd time demanding for a reply. Remember, everyone is watching!

Is there any other mistakes you think should be avoided at all cost on social media? Share them below!

 

By the way, the pizza came at about 3.40pm and I received a standard voucher for a free pizza on my next order but still no phone call from them.

The Digital Economy

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The economy as we all know relies a lot on trades, in other words, buying and selling – the focus is on the money. Is that all there is to the economy?

“Economy is also defined as: The wealth and resources of a country or region, esp. in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services” – Google definitions

I would like to suggest that there’s more to that today – in this digital economy.

What drives the digital economy?

#1: People

Erik Qualman mentioned in his book “Socialnomics” that social media is a people-driven economy that will change the way we live and do business – no longer a ‘toy’ for kids anymore.

Relationships and networks, that’s what the digital economy is all about and both cannot be bought with money alone. It takes time, effort and commitment and buying fans / followers won’t speed up the process. Think about it – gone were the days where people were influenced by well-crafted sales pitches. It’s all about real, human recommendations. That’s where comments, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ come in and many businesses have seen (and reap) the benefits.

#2: Integration

This is an era of integration. You see the latest electronic devices being integrated with so many functions from touch screens, web browsing capabilities, cameras, GPS and even near field communication functions. In business, you see companies merging together to achieve competitive advantage and outsourcing somewhat becomes a norm unlike before where companies hire their own developers, support teams and graphic designers.

This is also true in advertising / marketing campaigns. Companies are using what I call integrated media, combining both social and conventional media for better reach, control and effectiveness. Printed ads are no longer limited to static information with QR (Quick Response) or AR (Augmented Reality) codes; customer interaction goes beyond phone and email support with the inclusion of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook; events become more interesting with visitors literally ‘liking’ a particular product / display on the spot!

#3: Minimalists

Businesses and companies are moving towards the minimalistic approach. Today’s websites are a good indication – most websites are clutter free unlike before where they are overloaded with information. They understand that more is not necessarily better thus small businesses are also becoming more focused, from total solution providers to specialized solution providers.

Is your business ready for the digital economy? What are your thoughts on the digital economy? How will it evolve further?

 

The 5 Groups of Marketers on #SocialMedia

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Having worked and talked with a number of businesses in Malaysia, I find that there are 5 groups of people out there when it comes to taking on social media. Whether they are small business owners, marketing personnel from large corporations or even individuals, they all seem to fall into one of the groups below:

Group 1: The Fans

You know social media is the way forward. You embrace it no matter where they are or the situation that they’re in. You know your way in and out of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. You are very active and you’re everywhere – perhaps the first to jump on that new social network recently launched – there is just no social media tool you will miss, as long there is “social media” labeled on it.

Group 2: The Skeptics

You feel that social media is a trend and it will soon fade away simply because conventional media still reigns. Perhaps you’ve tried this social media thingy and found that it does not work for you and does not see how it can for others, too. You may see it as a gimmick that marketing agencies are trying to sell and you just don’t see why would anyone want to follow your business on Twitter or check-in to your business on Foursquare. Social media is overrated.

Group 3: The Navigators

These are the people that know their way around social media. You know what are the best tools around, what works and what does not, what tools to use for a particular situation. You see the potential of social media and know how it can both benefit and fail your business depending how it is managed. You’ve all the knowledge and is constantly learning and you’re good in putting together strategies and plans to make it work for you.

Group 4: The Lurkers

Or perhaps also known as readers. You go around reading blog posts, tweets from specific #hashtags, following those at the top in the industry, always accumulating knowledge on your own. Yes, you may have your own social media accounts but they are just avenues for you to obtain information or maybe even to keep tabs on your competitors. You may also be feeling inadequate because others seem to be more knowledgeable / experienced than you.

Group 5: The Creators

Just the opposite of Lurkers – you create content and participate across social media platforms. You’ve that burning desire within you to keep sharing what you have, not afraid of what another may think of you. Chances are you already have a blog and is on Twitter or Facebook (at least) to get your words and thoughts out. You’re participating in chats, communities, groups and comments. You’re doing it as a way to express your thoughts and ideas.

Which Group Do You Fall Under?

So, how do you see yourself on social media? I say I’m a little bit of a creator + navigator (and fan :p) when it comes to social media, simply because I get excited when talking to people about it and even more so when the question pops “how can my business use social media?”.

Before Doing Anything, Know Yourself

Many times individuals and businesses fail on social media because they THOUGHT they should be what they aren’t. Unless you’re a master of disguise, the consumers can see through you right away. Understand that there is no right or wrong group to fall under.

However, if you’re only obsessed about content creation, don’t neglect lurking once in awhile. If you’re all about lurking, maybe you should put your knowledge together and be a navigator instead. Too much of a group can also be your downfall.

What about you? What group do you fall under?

What To Do When #SocialMedia Policies Are Broken?

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We’ve read of many articles talking about to go about setting up social media policies in your company, how to involve your employees in enforcing them like in IBM and the importance of having some sort of guidelines at the very least. I too, agree with such importance but what happens when one breaks the policy; or in a worse case scenario, defamed your brand / business on the vast world of social media networks?

Now, I’m talking about a step beyond negative comments. It’s more of a direct allegation or news that may affect your brand image.

Perhaps you could warn or fire that particular employee. But what if the person who accused / defamed your business isn’t part of your company? What will you do? Or rather, what can you do?

There was this incident that happened very recently where I’m at about this guy, pretty well known for his presence on social media (he blogs and comments on social issues) and he Tweeted a (later found untrue) statement about an employee from one of Malaysia’s top publishing companies. The tweet said something about the employee being disrespected and mistreated by her employees AND employers.

the 100th apology tweet

To cut the long story short, the guy then had to apologize 100 times on Twitter over three days, admitting that he has indeed defamed the publishing company and he finally completed his ‘sentence’ at about 7pm today (Saturday).

I say this as an interesting incident only because of the unique ‘punishment’ of posting 100 tweets – definitely the first I’ve seen which led me to think:

  • Is it necessary?
  • Is it effective to begin with?
  • What would be the best way to punish / address someone in a situation such as this?

What do YOU think?

 

Big Corporations Do Not Need #SocialMedia. True or False?

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university students perception towards social media

Just last week I had the opportunity to sit down with a number of university students to talk about branding strategies in general. We explored the current campaigns, both successful and those that are not, whether it is through social media or conventional media – it was an interesting discussion and here are their 4 perceptions on social media:

Perception #1: Big Companies Do Not Need Social Media

Interestingly all of them think that social media isn’t necessary for big companies, simply because they are already well known. However, they do see social media as a necessity for small businesses to establish a wider presence among the consumer market and the reason they say so is because they see that…

Perception #2: Social Media is All About Promotion

The students felt that social media is their world – for them to connect, stay in touch and have fun. Brands come on simply to advertise and to promote their products.

Perception #3: It’s Not Necessary to Have Social Media if You’ve Good Customer Service

Upon bringing up social media tools as a customer service platform, they thought it can indeed be a great addition but follows to indicate that there is no need for it if your business already have good customer service through phone calls or e-mails.

Perception #4: Viral Videos Can Be ‘IT’ But May Not Convert

They love viral videos and they will share them without a doubt. Will they buy the product? Not necessarily. This goes the same for any other social media promotional campaigns e.g. contests, apps and etc.

Having Seen the Perceptions Above, Could Marketers Be Wrong?

Being a believer of social media myself, I was shocked to hear their thoughts but at the same time, they made perfect sense simply because there has to be a reason why the perception towards social media is as such.

Are brands / businesses doing it wrong on social media?
What could be the cause of such perception towards social media?
What do you think?

 

Brand Focus #1: Importance of Linking #SocialMedia Offline Right

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It’s interesting to see how businesses scurry to take on social media without much thoughts or a strategy. Are you one of them?

Just last weekend I went to a restaurant with a bunch of friends for lunch. It is situated in a bungalow, well furnished and a pretty nice place to chat.

Putting that aside, what caught my attention was the menu, or rather, what’s inside the menu. No, not the selection of the food, not the price, but this:

Jarrod and Rawlins MenuIt has a Facebook badge on the menu that says: Join Us On Facebook. I thought to myself that this is a good way to build a fan base or even an avenue for customers to give comments or feedback.

I began to look for the URL of the Facebook page – but found nothing except the domain name as seen to the left. Well, that isn’t too bad – I immediately looked up the site and guess what? It has no reference to the Facebook page either.

Now at this point of time I was rather determined to search for the missing URL but since it was a lunch gathering, I temporarily put the quest aside..

..until I got home. I went to Facebook and did a search and here’s what I got:

Jarrod and Rawlins Facebook

I was shocked. They DO NOT have a Facebook page at all. The only result that matched was “Jarrod Rawlins” which isn’t them and just random Facebook places that have not been claimed by the restaurant themselves.

Join Us On Facebook? But You’re Nowhere to be Seen!

Here are 2 quick lessons / reminder from this case:

#1: Putting a Facebook Logo Ain’t Cool / Impressive if it Does Not Work

Don’t / Never be inclined to put a Facebook / Twitter logo on your promotional materials if you do not even have it setup and maintained. If you do have one, make sure you have the URL or the Twitter handle to go along with it. Remember, it does not work like a button when it is printed so the URL is a must!

Additional tip: Stay away from http://www.facebook.com/pages/urlthatcannotberemembered12345.php – which is a default URL assigned to your page when you create one. You can actually get a pretty URL for Facebook here for a more memorable URL.

#2: Know What is it Supposed to Do

Know what you want to achieve with social media platforms. Directing customers to a blank Facebook page or an inactive Twitter account is counter productive. Offer discounts, offer exclusive updates, opportunities for customers to leave their thoughts on their last visit, maybe allow customers to redesign your menu or even just a thank you note – give value to your customers and they’ll be back for more!

Are you making the same mistakes? Have you seen similar mistakes by businesses? I would love to hear your experiences :)

 

Why You Should Forget About Conventional #Marketing

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Every business on this planet is fighting for attention, trying to sell a product or service to the consumers and sometimes it just backfires despite your effort. So why market your product? Don’t bother producing promotional campaigns – you’re wasting your money and here’s why:

#1: Consumers Don’t Care About You

And they really don’t. In the eyes of the consumers, you’re just ANOTHER product / brand. Yes, you may be the best among all but think about it – your competitors are shouting the very same message and this will result in a long, and perhaps an unfavorable journey for your business, simply because it will take time for the consumers to consider your message, evaluate and compare them with your competitors.

#2: Consumers Are Surrounded With Marketing Campaigns (and Gimmicks)

You can look at the outcome from two perspectives:

1. Consumers today are better decision makers – they tend to research and ask around for opinions before purchasing.
2. Consumers today had it enough with marketing campaigns – they simply avoid you (see short video here).

Neither outcome favors you as an marketer, especially when your business is new – budget constrains and lacking in credibility.

#3: Consumers Want Solutions

“Enough of selling! How about giving me a solution to my problem instead?”

Today’s consumers had it tough. Not only they have to put up with marketing spams, they have their own problems to attend to as well and all they want is a solution to their problems. If your marketing campaign only talks about your product, give it up – consumers won’t buy-in.

Going Beyond Marketing – to Creating an Experience

Instead of talking, why not try listening to understand what is it that the consumer wants rather than assuming? While it may be difficult to reach out to consumers before, social media platforms have made it easy today. Focus on creating an experience with the consumers instead of pushing the product to the consumer and you’ll see the difference as below:

The lines in grey illustrates the processes involved in the conventional consumer purchasing funnel and the one in red shows how powerful a bond / relationship with the consumer can be. It builds confidence among the consumers allowing them to jump into purchase – more powerful than conventional marketing efforts.

It Takes Time

I’m no way suggesting that this method is a shortcut to success. It takes time to build a bond with the consumers but its effect may be greater than conventional marketing efforts and social media makes it possible. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are great tools to approach the consumers because they are already on it. Approach them like how you would to approach a friend without being pitchy.

5 Things to remember when approaching consumers on social media:

1. You’re there to offer a solution to their pain.
2. You’re there to build relationships.
3. You’re there to give value.
4. You’re there to ultimately convert them into advocates.
5. You’re there to listen.

It’s time to do away with conventional marketing and let the ‘human’ do the job. Let people drive your business, not products.

What are your thoughts on conventional marketing vs social media marketing? Does the buying power solely rests on the consumers themselves now?

diagrams adapted from: Harvard Business Review.