Category Archives: Branding

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.

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 :)

 

Who Is More Influential? The Brand or Its Followers?

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brand influence on social mediaBrands all over the world are hopping onto the social media ‘brandwagon’. For some, it is called strategy; the others, it is simply because it is ‘the thing’ to do. How successful are these brands? Are they influential enough to command attention?

Or rather, Who is influential?

An interesting question? I would think so myself. The thought came to me very recently when I was looking at various social media marketing campaigns – I saw how successful brands got their fans together through various promotions, facilitate discussions, interacting with fans and etc.. basically all the good stuff. However, who empowers the brand? Is it the social media manager behind the fan page? The brand? Or is it the fans?

I suggest it’s the latter.

A brand can only be as influential its followers can get. Look at it this way – a ‘successful’ brand on social media usually has high engagement with their followers. What if the followers do not respond? Does this affect the brand’s influence?

This can only mean one thing – it all revolves around the followers. Your brand may have the best offer and content but if the message is delivered to thin air (not responsive followers), nothing is going to happen.

What to do?

#1: Understand their influence

Sure, you have 100,000 fans but the threat of substitution remains high especially on social media networks. Followers can unfollow at will OR follow multiple competitors at one go – in fact, some argue that brand loyalty is dead with social media.

#2: Respect their influence

Take genuine interest in them beyond just numbers. Take the effort to talk to them individually whenever possible and respond to their conversations and feedbacks – both good and bad.

#3: Reward their influence

Every brand will have extraordinary fans. Some call them brand champions – fans that have been there since Day 1, fans that have been following your updates, fans that have been commenting and interacting often with your brand and fans that have been sharing your content with their friends. These fans are a gem! Look for opportunities to reward them e.g. a special feature of the month, freebies, exclusive passes and etc – every bit counts!

#4: Repeat #1

What is your take on brand influence? I would love to hear your thoughts below :)

Why Local Online Marketing Is Just As Important

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Are you ready to have a Local Business with a Global Advantage?

With the growth of the Internet, mobile web and social media networks, it is no wonder why businesses today are wanting to be online for maximum brand presence and exposure. Nothing wrong with that, but through the course of talking to various clients, it would seem that most businesses are so engrossed in getting GLOBAL exposure, neglecting the potential LOCALLY.

Now, I understand that businesses (especially small businesses) are in the game to make big sales and going into international waters but if you neglect your local audience, chances are, you may not make it internationally as well.

Why is it so?

#1: You’re in for HUGE Competition

It is important to understand that if you’re going global, you need to be even more aware of your competitors. Of course, you may have identified a niche market here and there but you’ll still have to compete your way up to gain web traffic and fans, not to forget the climb up the SEO rankings.

#2: Logistics

This is really simple but many tend to look over this matter. Is your business capable of shipping globally when sales happen? If so, great! But most of the time the answer I receive is “we will see if we can accommodate the request when it happens – we’ll leave it as that for now”. Do you really want to put all the effort to finally get some results, only to react when it happens?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not against your business going global, but am suggesting that you may also want to start off being a champion locally, first. Why?

#1: Sandbox

You can first test your operations / system / procedures to see if they are too complicated to follow, or if there are any loop holes BEFORE going global. This may in return save you time, money and effort since the problem is still within local reach. After all, this can be considered as a “beta” phase to your business.

start by being big locally, then expand!#2: Champion of the Pond

When it comes to online marketing, having a niche (the pond) makes it all the easier, what more if it’s localized. For example, “Advertising Firms in Malaysia” would probably be easier than “Advertising Firms” when it comes to online positioning locally. Start off by getting a foothold in your geographic location, then slowly expand when the time is right. By doing so, you’re also…

#3: Gathering of Supporters

This is important if you’re intending of going global in the long run and social media networks makes it all the easier. Blog comments, Facebook wall posts, Tweets and even tips / recommendations on Four Square allows real people to post real feedbacks about your business and CAN influence prospects’ buying decision. I don’t know about you but if it will make a whole lot of difference to me if I see a product / brand that has a huge fan base with feedback as opposed to none, especially if the business is not based locally.

#4: Additional Visibility

Being visible to your local customers can grant you even more visibility, especially when you’re already the champion in the pond and with a strong fan base! Imagine online reviews or even offline write-ups on local media – all these gives you additional exposure AND lands credibility to your business.

Start looking inwards and you’ll be on your way there! I’ll be happy to hear your thoughts on this topic, too!

Branding.. A Dilemma in Malaysian Small Businesses

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branding among malaysian SMEsBranding is often talked about in both big and small businesses globally. Small businesses in Malaysia (also known as Small Medium Enterprises) are also often in the quest of ‘branding’. However, many of them fail to realize what branding is all about. They think that…

#1: Branding is Advertising

I would say that 95% of the time when I talk to clients in the very first meeting, clients would automatically talk about designing brochures, buntings, banners, newspaper advertisements, billboards, commercials and etc. If only branding is THAT easy…

Advertising is just one of the many tools for a branding process. So are your corporate identity, corporate trainings, team building activities, public relations, social media and events.. they are branding tools to create a brand perception among your target audience, for them to get to know you better in the most relevant method.

#2: Branding Requires A Huge Budget

Having said that, many will begin to think branding is out of their pocket’s league – and that isn’t true. The only budget a business should have is time. Branding takes time and is scalable to your monetary budget. In most situations, branding starts internally, within your own business – your directors, managers, employees, everyone.

branding inwards THEN outwards!

How so? If these people do not believe in your brand, you’ll have a hard time convincing your target audience to believe in you. Always examine inwards before going out there! Consumers are getting smarter these days and you definitely do not want to be seen as an empty brand.

“Ever seen a giant billboard by the highway and you went “that product isn’t any good” or “their customer service is lousy”? Start inwards!“

#3: Branding = Sales

This is perhaps what frustrates me the most – businesses tend to think that the minute they step into the branding process, sales will roll in like never before. If that is your purpose in branding, you’re heading the wrong direction. It takes time.. and for some, LOTS of time.

Why? Simple. One of our client in a retail business have been wanting to have a place in various major shopping malls in Malaysia and they couldn’t – their existing brand image does not meet the requirements of these locations. What we did immediately was to create a fresh brand image for them.. from scratch!

sales vs branding

We went through the motion of brainstorming, creating a new theme / concept, logo, training sessions and the likes and yes, it took a couple of months to get everything in place as they do not have any proper organization (i.e. management) as yet.

As you could’ve guessed, they gave up half way through with the reason of – there was no increase in sales. They see all they’ve spent as a liability instead of an investment – an asset to their business for expansion. Strange, but true. There are many out there that still think branding is the magic word to sales but unfortunately, it does not work that way in reality.

If Only Branding Is THAT Easy..

What is your take on branding? Have you came across brands you thought that they were ’empty’? How do you define ‘successful branding’?

Do share you thoughts here! :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 3)

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So you now have a blog up and running and you’re working on your posts consistently, great! The common question I face during meetups with clients is: “Is that enough?”.

Is it?

It depends. It depends on how far you want to take your company / brand. If you’re comfortable having that limited number of readers or if you have no problem with a slow and steady organic growth of readership, then yes, it is enough.

However in most cases, companies and businesses would want to see results fast. They want to build a huge readership base within the shortest amount of time possible. Some make it, some don’t. Why? It takes a little more than just commitment and consistency to make it happen.

Here are 3 tips on how businesses can build readership:

#1: Guest Posting

guest posting for extended exposureThis is pretty straight forward. Just like how your business is looking for opportunities to be featured on newspaper / magazine columns, you can write guest posts on other people’s blogs! All you need to do is to be on a lookout for opportunities to guest post – contact the site / blog owner to see if you can do so.

Remember to offer something in return such as an offer for them to write a guest post on your site, or to do a special feature about them or by linking them up. After all, it is a mutual benefit. Look for sites / blogs that relates to your industry so that your brand image is consistent. You may also want to wait till you have  a healthy amount of posts on your site before approaching others as they too, will want to know of your expertise :)

#2: Commenting

contribute through comments. do not spam!Just like guest posting, commenting on other writer’s posts can bring about great exposure to your business. How so? When you leave constructive comments and / or share ideas, you’re actually engaging with the author and fellow peers. This means that you will be recognized and when that happens, chances are, they too will drop by and visit your site as you leave your link.

Now be careful to not go on a commenting spree and leave links all over the blogosphere as that is equivalent to spam and that will work in reverse for you. Instead, look for sites that you can contribute ideas and learn from and get started on a healthy discussion – that will work much better as you position yourself in the industry on blogs.

#3: Submit / Syndicate Your Posts

building your network on social media

One good way of getting more readers is to leave as many trails of your post as possible on the web. It can be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg and the list never ends! Fortunately with the abundance of tools out there, you can get your posts in multiple places in one go such as Google’s Feedburner or if you’re using the Chrome browser, the Shareaholic extension makes things really simple, too!

Suggested read: I found this timely article here that suggests some of today’s growing tools you can submit your posts to to grow your readership network.

Is there more?

There sure is but the above 3 should be able to get things going pretty well for a start especially if you’re new to the blogging scene. Focus on growing your networks through engagement and do not worry about other techniques for now, you’ll definitely get there soon enough!

Do you have tips to share? I would love to hear what works / doesn’t work for you, too! :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 2)

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Now that you’ve understood why blogs are vital to your business instead of having a traditional website, you may have in mind to make full use of them to sell your products and services, perhaps even going to the extend of writing 1-page sales pitches that may have worked for you in the past.

Unfortunately, sales pitches does not work on blogs – especially when you’re just getting started.

Why Don’t Sales Pitches Work?

Blogging, or rather, social media is not about sales. It’s about customer engagement, it’s about relating and listening to your target audience and to have a human presence. Customers today do not want to be sold to – they want to be heard. Writing a full fledge sales pitch will only drive people away than to convert them.

Err.. But Isn’t It All About Making Sales?

That may be true for your business but on social media, I personally believe that sales is secondary. Yes, you would ultimately want to convert customers and make sales but upright sales pitches would do more harm than good. There are, after all, various ways and techniques of conversions on social media.

leading the pack with your blog

How to Make Sales With My Blog? Here are 3 Steps to Get You Started!

#1: Give and you shall receive

“What? I thought we’re talking about making sales!?”

Yes, we are – the long term yet effective way and blogs are just the right medium to do it. Provide value to your readers consistently to establish your own presence first. Write about what you do best, industry updates and share your experiences with past clients.

During this stage, you’re actually creating a platform for your business to reach out in the future – take time in doing this as it is your biggest asset!

#2: Create exposure

“Oh come on, get on with the sales already!”

Blogs can give your business an exposure beyond traditional means. With the amount of blog syndication tools out there and with search engine optimization (SEO), the amount of exposure is massive. Now, all you need to do is to create opportunities (or window opportunities) for sales to happen.

Some use exclusive offers, contests, VIP passes, weekend giveaways and more to gain more exposure AND create an opportunity for your audience to get to know you better through your products. In other words, you’re creating leads for sales!

#3: Promotion

“Are we there yet?”

There are various ways of promoting your products / services through your blog and one of the common ways of doing so is by producing an e-book. An e-book allows you to pack more of your expertise to your audience, benefiting them and at the same time, creates an opportunity for you to upsell your products. It can be a seminar, workshop, demo sessions, trials and more.

So, What About Sales?

As you can see, social media is an excellent tool to drive sales and increase conversions, especially with blogs. If you’re STILL looking to make plain sales out of thin air for your business, then perhaps you may want to consider other alternatives :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 1)

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If I had to pick which social media tool is the most beneficial for businesses, I would say BLOGS will come first. Nevermind whether it is Blogger, WordPress or the likes – blogs, in general is perhaps one of the most important social media tool for businesses today.

Why Should Your Business Blog

Your business may have an active Facebook or Twitter page going but like it or not, Facebook and Twitter are great engagement tools and not necessarily the best tool in disseminating information and content, especially chunky ones to your customers.

3 Reasons on Why Your Business Should Blog:

1. It is your HOME BASE

Traditional websites are slowly moving into a blog environment because businesses see the value in providing consistent updates and additional value to their customers instead of having a well designed, static information website.

Having a blog (or in this case, the centre of content) can act as the primary place of information for your business where you can share what’s happening behind the scenes, updates on upcoming plans, interesting news and even insights in the industry your business is in – basically content that adds value to your prospects and customers.

Are you driving your customers home?

Combine this with your engagement tools such as Facebook and Twitter, now your fans and followers will be able to find out and benefit more from you. This can easily be done by including a link to your blog on tweets and status updates.

Find out more about having a home base here!

2. Expert in the field

Now you may think that you can also establish a home base with a traditional website. True, but one thing blogs triumphs is that through your sharing of content, you are able to change the perception of your prospects and customers towards your business.

How so? A traditional website focuses on designs to create an impression. A blog focuses on content to create an impression. Which lasts longer? Blogs. The more valuable content you put out, the more your target audience will be able to know you and that builds a relationship that your competitor may not have with them.

Everyone is an expert - all you need to do is shareIf you are in business, chances are, you have tons of knowledge and experience in you. If you’re able to share them, that alone will make you an expert in the field – especially in the eyes of your customers. Customers value valuable content and transparency as it also influences buying decisions.

For consumers that are new to your business, a blog will be able to reflect your knowledge and experience in a particular field and in some cases, how active your business is by looking at when was your last update.

3. Low Cost

Guess what, you may already have been blogging and you just do not know about it. You may have been ‘blogging’ on advertorials, press releases, media write ups, newspaper columns, magazine columns and etc to position yourself in the market.

If you’ve been there, you should know that chances like that do not come by very often and sometimes it may cost you. If you’ve haven’t been there, you should also know that such opportunities may not be easy to find and that it will also cost you.

By having a blog, you have these opportunities every single day, at no cost! The only evident cost is your time. Your time to put together your thoughts, research, pen it down and to publish it online. Other than that, it’s literally free!

So, Why Blog?

Given the benefits, why NOT blog? I strongly believe that every industry will be able to benefit from having their very own blog. After all, wherever there is knowledge to something, there is definitely something to share from it, and blogs are the place to share them.

Have blogging been beneficial to you or your business? Do share them by commenting below! :)