Is Personal Branding Still Important in 2021?

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June 16, 2021

The short answer: Yes.

Think about that time when you were looking for a gift, your next restaurant for food delivery or that item on a marketplace…

Where did you look?

What did you look for?

What caused you to make the final decision?

My guess would be search engines, reviews, ratings, testimonials and maybe even media features. This behaviour is unlikely to change in the coming years as we consumers are increasingly independent (or dependant) in searching for information to validate our decisions and this is the same if we were to look for someone to hire for a job, a company to invest in, or a service to be rendered – we rely on digital cues.

In fact, personal branding is becoming more important in being discovered or establishing your credibility to others that may not know you. Similar to product branding, having just a good product does not guarantee discovery or conversion. You may have an excellent track record in your career or maybe you’re a top student in your university but unless you have your CV published or a wide network for referrals, employers will have no clue of your existence.

The harsh truth is that we rely on digital cues even in people discovery. We take cues from the content you create, the content others create about you, the level of participation you have in events, webinars, groups or LinkedIn, your activity on key social media channels, your website, and your digital portfolio. And it’s really NOT about being a stalker, but that’s just how it is today – we search and discover – from food, ideas, to people.

So stop neglecting your own digital presence and start investing into your own brand! Ask yourself questions like:

What am I planning to achieve? A job? A career advancement? A new opportunity? Receive investment? Be part of a network?

Where do these people hangout at? LinkedIn? TikTok? Facebook Groups? YouTube? Clubhouse? Telegram?

What will they be interested in? Are there specific topics or content types?

Why can I be interesting to them? Is there something I can offer that is unique and original to myself?

How can I appear on their radar? Can I post more often, comment or share more content that is relevant to them?

If you’re able to answer the 5 simple questions above, you’ve already begun your journey on making your personal brand known digitally!

The Death of Facebook Promotional Apps?

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August 28, 2013

| Jan Wong

You’ve heard it, Facebook recently made it clear that running contests and promotions on brand pages is now legal. The once strictly regulated rule is now demolished, leaving social media marketers plenty of room to explore new possibilities WITHOUT the need of a Facebook promotional app.

To put it simple, brands will no longer need to spend on Facebook contest apps such as Binkd or Wildfire as they can now run simple contests such as sweepstakes or giveaways as they please. Hurray for the budget conscious!

Does this mean that Facebook promotional apps will now be irrelevant?

Not quite. In fact, it increases the potential of Facebook promotional apps and here are 10 reasons why:

1. Collection of database

Apart from increasing engagement, brands usually run promotions to grow their database and while accepting entries on the Timeline is now acceptable, collecting customer data will prove to be a challenge.

This is simply because customers will be posting their personal details such as their contact numbers, email addresses and other common contest requirements openly when Facebook apps usually provides…

2. A sense of privacy

This is obvious. You present your fans with a private form where they can submit their personal details to you and nobody gets to see them but you.

This is exceptionally important when sensitive data such as their identification card number or home address is required. Having fans to submit their entries openly with those data made public will definitely raise eyebrows.

3. Sense of security

The only way for a Facebook app to run is to have a valid SSL security certificate (yes, it is a requirement). This means that all data entered from your fans are encrypted to prevent a third party from stealing them.

With this basic necessity in place, your fans can be assured that they are in a safe environment when providing their personal data to you as compared to posting them on the Timeline.

4. Backend monitoring and control

By now you should be wondering, if point #1 to #3 above is all about customer data, wouldn’t it be solved by getting them to send in a private message instead for you to manually compile them into a spreadsheet?

Good thinking. And yes, that works too. But what happens when you gather 50 entries? What about a hundred? A thousand, maybe? The manual workload involved is not worth the time.

With a custom developed Facebook promotional app, you can have a backend control panel for you to effectively and efficiently monitor and manage all submitted entries and even export it to a spreadsheet within a click of a button.

5. Performance reporting and analysis

Understanding the performance for your promotional contests are important and yes, you will have access to Facebook Insights with the beautiful charts and numbers laid out but hey, is that enough? A quick look into Facebook Insights will tell you the reach of your promotional post, new fans gained with the period and etc. What about conversion rates? What about participation trends broken down by time and demographics?

6. Flexibility and space for content

One of the biggest challenge of running promotions or contests on Facebook is the content, or rather, the messaging of the promotion itself. In most situations, the text and visuals used plays a very important role in conversion. If doing so is already a challenge on a Facebook app, it will be twice (or more) as challenging on the Timeline.

The reason is simple, research shows that shorter status updates work better than lengthy ones, coupled with a visual that stands out on the Timeline. Most promotions and contests comes with participation requirements, mechanics, terms & conditions and the list of prizes in which can be a major challenge in making them concise and presentable as a post on Facebook.

On the other hand, having an app will effectively group all related information into a single location for quicker access and a more direct reference.

7. Minimize clutter on timeline

If you are thinking that the issue of post length can be mitigated by simply splitting them into several posts, think again as you will also need to consider the fact that contest entries may also be submitted on all of the posts made – which can be a major headache. On top of that, your Timeline may be cluttered as there will be a huge mashup of contest announcements, user posts and your regular brand content (which may be drowned by the contest).

8. Easy reference

I don’t know about you but I’m not a fan of cluttered timelines. I personally hate it when all the information I need are segregated into separate posts or different parts of a website. Having a specific app developed for a promotion or contest solves this once and for all. All related information, forms and terms are compiled in a single location with a unique URL.

Your brand will then be able to promote the unique URL instead of specific posts especially if you have split your contest announcement into several posts as point #7.

9. Brand experience

It is important for your brand to stand out (and to stick) with your fans during your promotional campaign. I’m not saying that running it on a post dilutes your brand, but it certainly won’t be able to give a whole brand experience as compared to doing so via an app.

Imagine participating in a contest via a flyer by a street against filling it up on a purposefully designed contest form – which gives you a better experience? Which projects your brand in a better light?

Having a contest app allows you to create that very same experience by having clear indication of your brand, well written messages and ultimately, the contest form that is built for that very purpose.

10. Deep integration

This is one advantage I love the most about a Facebook promotional app – it allows brands to further integrate their promotion or contests into other backend processes or systems. It can be as simple as a newsletter subscription service, a CRM loyalty programme or even a warehousing system to display any relevant data.

This means that brands will be able to go beyond just running a mere contest and to provide a ‘whole’ experience from all users. The possibilities are virtually endless with this one!

Bonus: Fan Gate

Running a contest on an app allows you to create a fan gate, that is to condition users to first “Like” your page before participating. This method is also one of the most common ways brand pages have been utilizing to encourage fan growth. You definitely can’t do the same when running a contest on your page’s Timeline.

So there you have it!

10 reasons why Facebook promotional and contest applications will still remain relevant today and should not be left in the dust.

What are your thoughts? Do you think this Facebook update will cripple contest apps?

Brand Focus #13: Maximizing Search Engine Optimization Offline [Hong Leong Bank Malaysia]

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June 26, 2013

| Jan Wong

Search engine optimization (SEO) has always been key to many including myself. It really is a no-brainer as almost every brand, business or individual would want to be easily searchable across major search engines to stand out from their competition online.

However, can SEO benefit OFFLINE marketing efforts?

Definitely. And one reason why SEO can be equally powerful offline is that it demands attention and can potentially increases your credibility curve even if you are new to the industry.

Take for example this advertising campaign by Hong Leong Bank Malaysia I spotted in a shopping mall on their recent launch of the Mach Card (a credit card).

What do you think? Did it catch your attention? It definitely did to me! And here’s a vertical version on one of the pillars.

5 benefits of making your search engine presence known offline

#1: It captures the audience’s attention

This advert caught my attention when I was going down an escalator. Not because of its size but because it resembles Google search. My focus was immediately and naturally drawn to the “search box” effortlessly.

#2: It’s easy to remember

The message was clear and there was a clear takeaway for me as a potential customer – “A bank like no other”. Short, simple and sweet rather than the name of the new product that probably may not make sense.

#3: It’s a familiar design

An advert that utilizes familiar elements allows the audience to understand its context without any trouble. And in this era where Google search is dominant, they cleverly adapted their brand to the Google layout that we are all familiar with and listed out the product features as “search results”. One look and just about anyone gets the message.

#4: It’s a conversation starter

I have personally been utilizing a similar strategy for a while now and I must say it works almost 100% of the time.

People tend to go “Wow!” or “This is so cool”, followed by “So what do you do as an online strategist?” and it takes off from there naturally. What makes this method effective is that they would already have generated a certain amount of interest in you rather than you go babbling about what your company does.

#5: It boosts credibility almost instantly

Starting a conversation is one thing, and actually being on the search results is another. People who receive my card in most cases tend to test it out there and then… and it works!

What happened here? You’ve just successfully proven that you are the real thing and will leave a lasting impression on the recipient especially when there are hundreds of cards being passed about.

But wait, is the brand for real?

A quick search on Google revealed that they are no where to be found!

I was stumped.

Sure, it did very well in attracting my attention and I remembered your keywords but hey, I can’t find you on Google and mind you, I was genuinely interested in finding out more! So the question really is, what is the purpose of this advertisement?

Have you experienced an ad campaign that put you off? I would definitely want to hear your experiences below.

A Look Into Malaysia’s eCommerce Scene in 2012

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February 20, 2013

| Jan Wong

So the team and I at OpenMinds Resources recently put together our findings we conducted on the local eCommerce scene into an infographic and discovered a number of stuff that did surprise a bunch of us.

We found that guys tend to make online purchases more than the fairer gender, payment via cash on delivery out weighs bank transfers and exclusive deals doesn’t necessarily command an immediate purchase (despite us Malaysians being quite crazy over bargains). You can read about the findings here or directly from the infographic below (click for larger image):

Where do we go from here?

If your business is situated in Malaysia or are facing a similar market outlook, here are 5 points to consider to turn these findings to your advantage:

#1: Offer credit card checkout options

This may seem obvious but most small sized online retailers do not offer such options to their customers for various reasons including high transaction fees and technical complexities.

What you may want to explore is to utilize a credible payment gateway such as PayPal, iPay88 or MOL Pay in Malaysia as setting them up aren’t difficult at all. As for the high transaction fees, I’d rather not lose out on the 58%.

#2: Consider meetups to drive sales

The biggest disadvantage of an online store to the customers is the inability to physically see and feel the product. Having that said, a no obligation meetup to showcase your products may not be a bad idea though costly to you at first.

What you want to achieve here is to boost your credibility. I recently made online purchase of a shirt myself and I was pleasantly surprise that the retailer was more than happy to provide an exchange of size at no additional cost should it not fit me.

#3: Be detailed when providing product info

Instead of putting all your effort in writing a sales pitch for your product, try to be descriptive. Saying your product can change the world in a click and how awesome and limited they are won’t cut it. Instead, say HOW it can change the world and in what way will it function will do a whole lot better.

Of course, the price has to be clear too. Nothing annoys a customer off more than having an unclear pricing mechanism.

#4: Consider REAL product reviews

One of the reasons why sites such as Amazon.com and TripAdvisor.com are loved by many is because of its reviews. Real, honest reviews by fellow customers.

I know this sounds like a risk to many retailers but it works. Not only you’re able to obtain real feedback from your customers, you’re getting them to do the selling for you!

BlackMilk Clothing turns real reviews up a notch by encouraging customers to submit a photo of themselves in the dresses they sell. This not only shows other customers how that dress may look like on them, but not also have a user-generated pool of photos. Brilliant!

#5: Create exclusive offers… and gain from it!

Group deals are still pretty big over here in Malaysia and that’s great for us consumers. The problem is that retailers tend to rely on these deals as a means to drive sales and eventually find that these deals are not sustainable, which is true.

Don’t just create an offer and throw it off the street. Ask yourself, how can you maximize it to your benefit? Could it be a good opportunity to grow subscribers? To amass reviews or feedback? To get them to bring their family and friends along?

Check out: How to manage a group deal for a small business

What are some other observations you’re able to gather from this research? Would love to hear from you!

What About Customer Satisfaction Online?

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January 21, 2013

| Jan Wong

Customer satisfaction has always been an important contributing factor to businesses and more recently, it has been translated to technology too! No longer it is sufficient for businesses to ensure customer satisfaction offline, but on online platforms too.

The Reason

It is okay to place your contact number on a website 10 years ago (if you had one) and expect customers to call you directly should there face any problems. In fact, your website did not need to be interactive. A guestbook (do you remember that one) was the cool thing back then.

Today, things are different. There was never a time more relevant than now for you to ensure a higher customer satisfaction rating on your online platforms. A recent survey revealed huge numbers on online customer satisfaction and how it CAN indeed improve sales – both offline and online (click on below image for full article).

The Challenge

You may have seen or read tons of reports, articles, infographics such as the above and you know by heart how customer satisfaction is important. The problem is, how?

How can you effectively increase customer satisfaction through your website?
What can you do to ensure customers have a good digital experience with your brand?
What does it take to be ‘user friendly’?
What is ‘user friendly’ anyway?

If you’ve asked some of these questions above, read on!

10 Ways To Increase Customer Satisfaction Online

#1: Provide REAL Product Reviews and Ratings

Note that I stressed on the word ‘real’. Simply placing a photo of a satisfied client with a well scripted message does not cut it anymore. Allow customers to generate their own reviews, both good and bad. Empower your customers to create more customers. Let customers see for themselves what others are talking about your product or service and allow them to speak of their experiences as well.

#2: Clear Navigation (and Call-to-Action!)

Ever been to websites that plays hide-and-seek with you? Hidden links, poorly coordinated colours or simply just by having too many links. Contrary to the beliefs of many businesses, having more links does not necessarily help customers to navigate better.

Ask yourself, who do you expect to come by your website? What do they expect to see? 3 different links to you company’s vision and mission statements or the products and services you offer? Are they often looking for an answer to a question or to get personal advice from you?

#3: Support

Let’s be honest here, there are many occasions where we as customers ourselves often head straight to the contact form to pen down our feedback, suggestion, enquiry or question without first checking the FAQ page or using whatever search feature there is. While sometimes it is due to customers being hasty, often it is due to you not providing clear or simplified ways for them to seek support from.

Let’s take a look at Air Asia for a bit. Note that they have a section on their website solely dedicated to answering customers’ questions? Not only they provided a clear and distinctive way of searching, the topics are also laid out in a very understandable manner, minus the jargons.

#4: Be Multi-Channel

Provide as many avenues for customers to be in touch with you as possible within your capabilities. This not only allows customers to communicate on what they are comfortable on, but it also demonstrates how open you are to hear from your customers.

I usually recommend my clients to have a minimum of 3 different customer touch points: a contact form via the website, a contact number and a social media platform. While these touch points are not absolute, it caters to 3 different groups of customers – the tech inclined (contact form), the non-tech inclined (contact number), and the socialites (social media platform).

#5: Surprise Them

Think about the small things that can make a difference, just as how awesome it would be for a hotel to leave you a handwritten note during your check-in or how the waiter brings your check with free mints. How can you convert these small gestures online?

It does not need to be something big but good enough that it stands out, especially from your competitors. It can be a small bonus, extended warranties, free support or training, insider discount, an easy return process or even personalized packaging (I’m a sucker for packaging)!

#6: Don’t be Too Quick to Reply

Businesses often equate speed or response time to customer satisfaction. That’s just partially true. There’s nothing more irritable than receiving a half-baked reply that derails from the customer’s concerns. Customers want their voices heard and problems acknowledged. Saying “We will look into it” is not enough, especially if it s a canned response.

Your response does not need to be Lego, but relate yourself in that very same situation, address the pain and always offer a solution. If there is none, tell the customer what will be done exactly on your end to rectify the problem. Take it another step further by dropping the customer a call or another email few days later to provide an update of the situation.

#7: Mobile Compatibility

You’ve probably heard this a million times and I’ll say it again because it IS that important. With such a huge increase of mobile users over the past 3 years, it is almost guaranteed that customers will likely stumble upon your site on their mobile devices – whether it’s through a link on Facebook, a newsletter you’ve sent or via search engines.

A site that is mobile compatible usually has these traits:

NOT designed using Flash
The site fits into the screen
The contents, such as text and images can be seen without scrolling or zooming
Simplified navigation scheme (e.g. displayed in a dropdown list instead)
Quick loading time

#8: Check Your Links

This sounds like an easy one but you’ll be surprised on how easy it is for you to miss just a single link on your website. Click here for an example.

See what I mean? Did that annoy you just a bit? Check your links. All of them. Make sure they work as intended as customers do get annoyed if they can’t get to where they want to be!

#9: Revisit Your ‘Introduction’ Page

There really is no reason to put a page before your home page. I am very glad that this trend is slowly making its exit but many businesses are still on it! If you have one, do you REALLY need to have one? Can that introduction be placed as part of the home page instead?

Such pages not only requires customers to go through an additional step to ‘enter’ or to ‘skip’ it, it is bad for SEO too. Search engines hate it, and you definitely do not want to get into their bad books!

#10: Loading Speed

One of the biggest turn offs is slow loading speed. Not only it greatly affects browsing experience, it totally kills the mood too. No customer would be happy waiting for your product page to load or to make a payment. Did you know that even a second is now, too long?

Google has a nifty tool to test your website’s speed and recommends ways you can speed it up, though you need a technical person to do so. If your website is getting anything lower than a score of 60, you definitely need to do something about it!

Customer Satisfaction is Here to Stay

Like it or not, customers will continue to expect more out of businesses online especially when the internet population and tech literacy continues to increase. Business can no longer escape this fact, not for long.

Remember, dissatisfied customers can stir a storm and should not be taken lightly.

What’s your take on customer satisfaction online? What is it that ticks you off the most?

Websites Are Beyond URLs

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January 14, 2013

| Jan Wong

Sometime last week I received an email from an existing client saying that they’d want to terminate their corporate website and to setup a Blogspot account instead.

You heard that right. They (the directors) have decided to terminate their existing corporate website (which already has a blog section) to setup a Blogspot account simply because “blogs are more popular than websites”. According to them, this will make a good marketing strategy allowing them to reach the younger consumers since a blog is part of social media. And if this blog goes well, they are looking towards pulling themselves out of Facebook too to see what will happen before making the next move.

3 Reasons Why They Are Wrong

#1: Having a Blog Does Not Necessarily Mean More Visits

Consumers today are not drawn to the platform your brand is on. Just because you have a blog or own a Facebook page does not make you look cool and they’ll flock towards you. In fact, it’s a commitment – one that is open and transparent.

After all, a blog is a website. Same goes to a portal, a forum, a social networking platform, they too are websites. It is essentially what you do on the site that makes it exciting to the consumers. Now I’m not against having a Blogspot, but to terminate a corporate website that’s already enjoying steady streams of traffic, receiving enquiries from local and abroad while sitting steadily on top of all major search engines really is a “bold” move.

#2: Where is the Brand?

Branding is important. In fact, it is vital for consumer-driven businesses and having a easily recognizable website will not only increase memorability, but also allows marketing messages to be more concise.

If these are still not good enough reasons, think about the perception of what your consumers or business partners will think about your brand. Between myawesomesite.com and myawesomesite.blogspot.com, which sounds more credible?

#3: No Home Base

An official website also acts as your brand’s home base. It is here where conversions, sales and subscriptions ultimately should happen for 1 reason only – it is YOUR platform. Yes, you own it and no one can take it from you. The traffic and database you have built is yours to keep.

Unlike having it on Blogspot, WordPress, Facebook or Tumblr, who knows what will happen in the coming years? Are you absolutely sure they’ll still be around? Remember Friendster? They were the undisputed champions of social networking once, with over 115 million members before Facebook took the lead.

Do you think having a subdomain (such as Blogspot) is better than a domain itself?

Will Social Media Remain Relevant 10 Years Down The Line?

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July 17, 2012

| Jan Wong

That’s a question I recently received from a friend over dinner. In fact, another question followed,

“What will you do when it (social media) goes out?”

So, what will YOU do when it goes out? Will social media cease to exist?

The short answer is in fact, no.

And I’m not saying this because I’m protecting myself in the industry but simply because it’s true. Sure, statistics from multiple sources such as this suggests that the acceptance rate of social media is now shifting towards the east from the west but does this mean that social media is reaching a plateau?

I suggest otherwise.

Let me start by saying that social media is not new to begin with. It has been present ever since communication began, now spiced up with technology allowing communication to take place a whole lot faster and well, faster – on different mediums.

Why ‘Social’ media then?

Interestingly, Wikipedia defines social media as “[Social media] includes web-based and mobile based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals”, “forms of electronic communication” on Merriam-Webster and on other sources, “consumer generated media”.

This can only mean that social media has been with us before the days of social network giant Facebook and will only come to an end when consumers stop communicating (social) and decides to no longer share information (media) with one another.

Technology will evolve but communication remains.

What we are experiencing and looking at today is the evolution of technology. Social networking sites may not last the next 10 years, maybe even the amazing Google Glasses will not last but will it come to a point where communication ceases? Will consumers today let go of their privilege to communicate directly with brands and the ability to share consumer insights with one another?

Having that said, brands today face a challenge no different than before, that is to keep up with technological changes – not the technology in itself, but on how to manage the technology to the brand’s advantage. That’s what I’ll be doing for the next 10 years.

What about you?

Brand Focus #12: Online PR Gone Bad [Paradigm Mall]

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May 31, 2012

| Jan Wong

Online PR have always been a popular topic among marketers and social media enthusiasts and I really don’t blame them because it IS an important topic to address and for some reason, I’ve been bumping into some really bad PR campaigns online lately. Take for an example Mayo Clinic where they posted an article on their blog on ectopic pregnancy right beside an ad for ‘cute little dresses’, the recent outbreak of really bad customer service with KFC Malaysia and more recently, with a newly opened shopping mall in Malaysia (see below).

What went wrong?

I don’t know about you but I got a shock reading the reply from the management or their supposed social media team. You’ve guessed it right – this immediately turned viral where customers started creating photos, videos and tagging their friends into what they are calling the ‘magical moment’.

3 Things to Learn from this Incident

#1: Speed Matters

If there’s anything I’ve learnt through the years, consumers want to be noticed and wants an answer yesterday (no, this is not a typo). They are not inclined to know that you are on a holiday or whether it is a weekend. To them, social media does not sleep because they aren’t, and they want to hear from you.

#2: Never Fight Fire with Fire

Dealing with customers is tough. And it’s normal. There are days where you just aren’t in the mood and here comes this customer with a complain that drives you up the wall. Stop, take a walk and reply positively. It is never, ever a good thing to be sarcastic, unapologetic or to even outsmart a customer – it’ll just make matters worst.

#3: Never Let the Fire go Wild

A wildfire is the last you want to start online. Sure, mistakes do happen but you must be able to sniff out fire and put them out within the shortest time available. Never let it go unnoticed, thinking that it’ll eventually go away because it won’t. And when it starts going out of hand, things will be harder to fix.

What to do if you can’t seem to keep up?

#1: Bring it Off-Grid

If things go out of hand (or you’re already sniffing fire), try bringing the conversation off-grid – whether it is through email, a phone conversation, a direct message on Twitter or Facebook’s ‘message’ feature with the new Timeline update. Politely request for a change of platform and in most cases, customers do comply as they too want their problem fixed.

#2: Get a Trained Team

While going off-grid may make things better, you don’t really want to get there in the first place. Make sure your team is well trained to handle situations like these. Have a guideline in place spelling out the do’s and don’ts and make sure the guidelines are readily available.

#3: Make Things Clear

If time is out of your hands, you may want to consider announcing your ‘customer service’ hours. While this is not exactly the best way to go about online, this method will be able to set an expectation among your customers by telling them when will you be available to reply accordingly.

Social media platforms have become so important that most businesses today see the need of leveraging on its potential, but there is a greater need to be able to MANAGE these platforms to achieve that potential.

Paradigm Mall is just one of the many examples out there and I would love to hear your experiences on other online PR disasters too!

p.s. The management of Paradigm Mall publicly apologized on their Facebook page a couple of hours after the incident and to that, a job well done!

Social Media for Entrepreneurs: Friend or Foe?

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March 14, 2012

| Jan Wong

Note: This is Part 4 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series.

Social media networks are awesome to have

This is Part 4 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series. Quick access to the series below:
[ Introduction | Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Why It’s Made for You | Part 3: The Reality | Part 4 ]

Disclaimer: The video was recorded as part of the RU Ready series targeted to entrepreneurs in Malaysia by Prudential which I was involved in. This also happen to be my first ever video series :)

Social Media for Entrepreneurs: The 5 Realities of Social Media

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March 9, 2012

| Jan Wong

Note: This is Part 3 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series.

With the many benefits social networking platforms have, it is no wonder many that are new imagined being ‘social’ is easier than it actually is. After all, you probably already have a personal Facebook or Twitter account in which you’re up-keeping well.

Unfortunately, having your business on social media isn’t something (as) easy.

The difference is this – on your personal page you’re free to share and talk about anything you want and let’s be honest, the main reason you’re spending so much time on these platforms is because it has been, and continues to be all about yourself; and you keep track (or stalk) your friends’ latest happenings.

And that does not happen with your business. Watch the video below on the reality of social media.

The 5 Realities of Social Media An Entrepreneur Should Know Of

Note: this is an extension of the video above

#1: You’re not connected as you think you are

It is always a good idea to first reach out to your existing networks (friends or followers) when putting together your business page. However, the friends you have may not be fans of your business. Even if they are, they may not necessarily be your potential customers. And you’re certainly not connected to all 800 million people on Facebook. Which also means that your business is hardly global.

#2: It won’t be a case of increasing sales

At least not so soon. Social media platforms should never be seen as an answer to low sales simply because it never is a sales platform to begin with. It says ‘social’ for a reason. Don’t get me wrong – sales CAN happen but it will be a result of communication and relationship building, not through blatant advertising.

#3: It is not easy. At all.

Just like starting up a business or a new website, it isn’t easy at all and there are many reasons to it. Whether it is marketing strategy, customer acquisition or retention, they are also valid (and prevailing) challenges on social media platforms so much so that if you think that getting started is tough, you’re wrong. It’s tougher ahead.

The frequent changes and updates in technology, the fact that you’re dealing with consumers that continuously demand, and the time required to be seen as ‘present’ on these platforms for people to take notice of your business is sufficient enough to get you going for as long your business is running.

#4: It isn’t free either

Speaking of time (in #3 above), time isn’t free, and by now you should have noticed the heavy involvement / requirement of time on social media. You need time to build connections, to create conversations and the dedication to make it happen for you.

This also means that you may have lesser time to do (actual) business thus losing out on potential sales elsewhere. If you choose to hire, there are costs involved as well. Sure, the platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are free, but the calculation does not stop there.

#5: And it isn’t a numbers game

Many have said this and I’ll say it again – don’t ever get caught in the numbers game. In other words, don’t spend all your time accumulating the number of followers or fans! Unless your only goal is to look better than your competitor and not get anything out of it, never compete in numbers.

In fact, you can even purchase fans and followers from as low as $5 USD. That’s how ‘cheap’ they are.

Additional read: 8 Grave Misconceptions about Social Media

“Okay, what to do then?”

+ Keep your head in the game and focus on what’s most important for your business.
+ Strive to provide value and provide them consistently.
+ Create conversations that is about them, not about you.
+ At appropriate opportunities, give them a reason to share about you and tell them how to.
+ Get them involved in your business through discussions. Hear them out!
+ Encourage them to share their thoughts or ideas.
+ Take a step further to get to know them better, for example, their interests.
+ Don’t be all suited up. Have fun! Run promotions, giveaways or share lighthearted resources (don’t go overboard though!).
+ Don’t automate replies. Being genuine is key.
+ And ultimately, stay committed.

Next up in Part 4: Friend or Foe?

This is Part 3 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series. Quick access to the series below:
[ Introduction | Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Why It’s Made for You | Part 3: The Reality | Part 4 ]

Disclaimer: The video was recorded as part of the RU Ready series targeted to entrepreneurs in Malaysia by Prudential which I was involved in. This also happen to be my first ever video series :)

Photo credit: BizOrigin