Category Archives: Insights

The Problem With Being A Human Brand by @MargieClayman

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This is a guest post by Margie Clayman (@MargieClayman), the director of client development at Clayman Advertising, her family-owned agency. She is the third generation of her family to work there! Margie is the community manager at 12most.com, the librarian at The Blog Library, and the resident blogger at MargieClayman.com.

When I was first reading about social media, which was in about 2007, the levels of excitement that were surrounding this brave new world was hard to contain. Although the technology was cool, what people in my sector of the business world were really excited about was that brands were becoming personal. With social media, you’re no longer just a customer who buys a certain laundry detergent.

Now you were a face, a name, and interests on that manufacturer’s facebook fan page or on that company’s Twitter account. The other side of the coin was that the company was no longer just a company. Maybe the Twitter account was managed by a person named Jill. Well, now you were buying your laundry detergent from Jill, and Jill was selling to you, a real person with a name and a personality.

What could be greater?

Fast forward to almost five years later and the world online is getting a bit more complicated. While it’s true that brands are becoming more personal, a few problems are starting to arise because of scale and because of human nature. All great things must come to an end, or at least, they have to change, right?

Oh no! I gave away all of my best work for free!

One thing that online brands are realizing is that in the effort to really get to know their customers, along with other companies, they gave a LOT of information away. All of those blog posts you’ve enjoyed reading over the last few years have essentially been people giving away their expertise. Sure, some sites have always had ads on them, but we all know that online ads are mostly good for branding, not for clicks. And besides, even if someone clicks on an ad on your site, they’re not really buying what you sell. They’re buying something that someone else is advertising on your site, right?

Now, a lot of people are wondering how they can push the rewind button on that decision. They want to start charging, or they want to start charging more. With such close contact to their customers, they are hearing about this a lot more often and with a lot more vitriol than might have been the case a few years ago. This is an increasingly big conundrum for online brands.

Oh no! I don’t really think you’re my customer!

Another problem brands are struggling with right now is the realization that a lot of people that they follow, or who are following them, are not really customers. They’re not even prospects. Heck, they might not even be competitors. In the race for online clout (yes, spelled with a c, not a k), people raced to get as many followers as possible without stopping to wonder, “Hey, would this person ever buy from me?”

Now, people who have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in their online communities are wondering how to filter through all of those people to get to the ones who might actually help them grow their business. As we’ve seen over the last few weeks with the “great unfollowing of 2011,” this can cause a lot of misunderstanding and discomfort, as is the case with so many adjustments. Again, because brands and customers have been so closely intertwined for the last few years, the blowback to these evolutions can be pretty severe.

Oh no! You want me to respond to you right away!

This is perhaps the biggest problem haunting online brands right now. When a lot of brands moved online in 2008 or 2009, there were not nearly as many people online as there are now, and nobody really knew what they were doing. It was all unchartered waters. Brands could respond to requests, suggestions, or calls for help lickety split. Five years later, customers and/or prospects still carry that expectation.

We have been taught that social media enables brands to execute customer service better than ever before, and that response times should be in minutes, not hours. Due to scale, however, responding that quickly to everyone is no longer an option. If the person managing a brand’s account did nothing but respond to people all day, they still would miss someone, and that someone would likely vocalize discontent.

Oh no! How can we get out of this mess?

Well, that’s the million dollar question. It seems like just like in the business world, social media is moving to a scenario where the smaller and more flexible you are, the better off you might be. Could we be moving to a brand new model where fewer followers is the optimum mode of operation? Could we be moving to a world where blog content is gated and must be paid for? All of these changes are going to be very uncomfortable, and there is likely to be a lot of rather hostile discussion as social media grows up and evolves.

Then again, I could be totally and 100% completely wrong. What do you think about the future of brands online? Where are we headed, and where are we now?

Brand Focus #9: Mobile and Facebook Integration for Your #SocialMedia Marketing Campaign [Carrefour Malaysia]

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In conjunction with one of Malaysia’s largest festive celebration the Hari Raya, Carrefour Malaysia launched an interesting marketing campaign using a combination of a free downloadable mobile app from the Apple AppStore and Facebook.

wholah campaign by carrefour malaysia

carrefour malaysia wholah social media marketing campaignThe app ‘Wholah’ requires the player to identify as many Facebook friends within 60 seconds to win different prizes including a can of Coke on their first play or subsequently a packet of Twisties or Oreos, all redeemable from any Carrefour outlet with no strings attached. To increase gameplay, the app also gave out in-game badges on different occasions.

If that isn’t enough, the campaign built towards a Tweetup, bringing the consumers together for a festive celebration together with the brand Carrefour.

3 Reasons Why Integration Matters for Your Next Social Media Marketing Campaign

#1: It Goes Beyond A Contest

Everyone can run a contest on social media platforms such as Facebook but not many can integrate a content into their marketing objective / brand message. The Wholah campaign took advantage of a festive season – also a season where shoppers flood hypermarkets to stock up for the festivity. A simple prize redemption method such as the requirement for players to come by and collect may in turn generate sales as consumers may just end up shopping at Carrefour since they’re already there.

#2: An Opportunity to Exercise the ‘Human’ in the Brand

Hari Raya celebrates the conclusion of the fasting month for Muslims and it is often celebrated with your family members. It is a time where children seek forgiveness from their parents and to celebrate as a family with great food. Using this fundamental concept, Carrefour became human by organizing a Raya Tweetup as a follow-up to the campaign, bringing the spirit of togetherness as the nation celebrates this joyous season.

#3: Easily Measureable

One of the main challenges businesses face when running marketing campaigns using social media is the ability to measure its effectiveness and conversion rates. Sure, there are tools out there to do the math but most of them comes back with an estimated figure. By having your social media marketing campaign tied to a offline business operation (such as the redemption of prizes), it will allow your business to determine the effectiveness of the campaign from the redemption rate – leading to other more accurate estimations on the increase of sales figures during the promotional period.

If you’re curious, check out the campaign’s microsite here

What do you think of the Wholah campaign? In what areas Carrefour Malaysia have succeeded / failed?

Watch Out! Are You Building A Frankenstein on #SocialMedia?

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Frankenstein somehow came out as an illustration in a recent discussion with a friend which I thought is a fitting example when it comes to creating a social media marketing campaign. How is it so?

5 Things to Consider When Building Your Next Social Media Marketing Campaign

Powering up the Frankenstein

1. Don’t build something you can’t power up!

Excited business owners and entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of building an idea fortress. You may have a grand scheme in mind but be aware of the time constraints, cost, knowledge, technical skills and practicality in making your plans a reality. Can it really be done with your current resources?

Always build a MVP – most viable product by first putting together what’s most important and practical to keep the costs down until you can afford something as big as a Frankenstein.

2. Watch your back!

Don’t let it haunt you in return. When Frankenstein came to life, it backfired and became a monster instead. Look out for loopholes in your marketing campaign that can bite you in return. It may be the terms and conditions, the sign up process, the voting process, the selection process or even the tools that you pick – you do not want to use a trial tool that ends before your marketing campaign ends!

A simple rule before launching your social media marketing campaign publicly is to test it and test it again!

3. Be innovative!

Frankenstein was created by stitching together different body parts. Your campaign can be created by stitching together different ideas from other marketing campaigns too! There really isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel for your campaigns. Understand existing concepts and inject your own flavor to make things different.

Be on a look out for great ideas both online and offline that you can implement in your next campaign.

4. Don’t build for your own pleasure!

Was there a need for Frankenstein to be created? Do the citizens of that time need Frankenstein? Not many people can create a new need like Steve Jobs did with the iPad. Build a campaign that your target audience would want to participate in. Don’t fall in the trap of building something cool just because the bigger companies are doing it. If your audience needs nothing more than a simple sweepstakes, so be it.

Always fall back to the basics: is this what my target audience wants? is my social media marketing campaign too complicated for them to participate? will there be any technological barriers?

5. Don’t give up!

Unlike Frankenstein, you do have an opportunity to make changes to adapt to the changing requirements of your target audience. Don’t give up when the marketing campaign did not progress as expected because you are dealing with humans and their preferences change from time to time. Take time to understand the flaws of your campaign and do better in the next.

Be reminded that your marketing campaigns are built for human participation therefore their preferences can affect your results.

Are you building a Frankenstein for your next social media marketing campaign?

What are your thoughts on building a social media Frankenstein?

Brand Focus #8: How to Manage A Groupon Campaign For A Small Business?

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usage of groupon in malaysia restaurants

Just a week ago I popped by a small restaurant just slightly away from town for dinner and managed to have a chat with a small restaurant owner.  Somehow the conversation landed on the topic of Groupon – he loves it.

Recalling from my past conversations with other business owners on Groupon in Malaysia, I instantly wanted to know more about this liking of his towards Groupon. What is it that made his Groupon campaign successful? Why is it that he is able to make Groupon work while others find it difficult to handle?

Here are some tips from our chat:

#1: Don’t Stinge on Quality

The restaurant owner insists that the proportion of the meals served during the campaigns have to be the exact proportion of how it is off-promotion, if not better. Customers can tell the difference – especially those that frequent you. Business owners should not opt for a cheaper alternative just because of a lower profit margin.

#2: Know How Much You Can Handle

If your restaurant operate 8 hours a day with a total of 40 seats and if each customer takes an average of 30 minutes per meal, you’re likely able to handle no more than 640 customers per day. And that’s if you operate back-t0-back without rest. This figure will let you know whether you’re able to take in X amount of reservations daily. This restaurant owner drew up a reservation chart to make sure he does not overdo it. By doing so, he will be able to operate at full capacity, yet maintain the quality and service efficiency.

#3: Know Your Limits

If the number of customers flooding your store isn’t a concern, how about the number of staff on duty? He pointed out a valid point – the more customers you have, the more manpower you’ll need and that will cost you money. If that still isn’t a concern, think about the workload – will your staff be able to handle two, three, or even four Groupon campaigns back-to-back? Give them (and you) a break…

#4: And Measure Your Results

The simplest method suggested is to give out vouchers for their next visit. Have them printed with unique codes / colors so you can track which campaign your customers are coming back from.

Have you purchased a deal on Groupon or similar sites? What is your experience with the businesses running the campaigns?

7 Ways to Avoid Consumer Backlash for Your Next #SocialMedia Promotional Campaign

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adampedleyThis is a guest post by Adam Pedley (@Adam_Pedley) is the founder of Binkd home of the Binkd Promotion Platform. Adam is also a great buddy and one with great insights on promotions. Enjoy!

As a business owner you want to increase your following and engage with your customers. A perfect way to do this is to run a contest. Give a way a prize, get people spreading the word of your business, every one wins right? Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. Here are 7 points you need to consider before running a contest to help avoid consumer backlash.

1. Avoid Voting Contests Or Apply Strict Rules To Them

If you have a voting contest, there are sites / Facebook pages out there that let you post your entry link and get heaps of votes from random strangers. Then you also go and vote on all the other entry links on these pages. A reciprocal exchange of votes from random strangers.

People get REALLY angry about this and this actually tends to be worse when you are in a predominately women focussed business (e.g. homewares or fashion).

You can either avoid voting contests, put in place strict rules forbidding people to post on these pages and if they are found to have done so, they can be removed from the contest, or do a vote for a chance to win.

Vote for a chance to win is a slight variation on a plain voting contest. Each vote they get is a chance to win, but not a guarantee, hence it limits the effectiveness of gaining votes from random strangers. This type of contest is available on the Binkd Promotion Platform.

2. Ensure Your Prize Is Highly targeted And Valuable

If you give away a cheap or not applicable prize to your audience not only will you lose credibility, you will anger your customers for wasting their time reading your contest or making them feel devalued and not worthy of your time.

A highly targeted and valuable prize will gain you more entrants and greater trust with your followers. They are also more likely to keep coming back.

3. Monitor Your Contest Very Closely

There is always the potential for things to go wrong in your contest. Maybe you made an error in the terms or setup the contest incorrectly. These errors normally surface in the first few hours hence it is best to launch a contest early in your working day. This gives you the ability to monitor your contest and correct any errors during the day, rather than waking up in the morning to discover a PR nightmare.

4. Don’t Change The Terms Once The Contest Is Running

Apart from being illegal in some countries, changing the rules of the contest after it has started never goes down well with entrants. If you think you may need something in the terms, write it in now and don’t add it in later. Your terms should be well crafted and looked over by a lawyer to ensure it is valid in the countries you are running the contest.

5. Avoid Humorous Prizes Or Language

While something may be funny to one person, it generally isn’t to others. To avoid negative feedback and have the best chance of people spreading the word, stick to widely accepted and wanted prizes in your niche.

6. Don’t Run A Contest For A Good Cause

If you run a contest with “I will donate $X to a charity or the latest global disaster, if I reach a thousands entrants” or something similar, you will get entrants who buy into this but you will also receive a fair bit of backlash. Generally people will say, why don’t you just donate the money now, people are dying over there you (insert expletive).

7. Make Clear Any Out Of The Ordinary Terms.

A lot of people don’t read the terms of the contest and then have a go at you when they realize it wasn’t what they expected. If you have any terms that are slightly out of the ordinary, make sure you put them in a place where people will read them as well as the in the terms and conditions. The more upfront you are about them, the less likely anyone will question you later after they have entered.

What is the Best #SocialMedia Tool for a Marketing Campaign?

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It is interesting to see how business owners or marketing people jump straight into Facebook when talking about using social media tools for a marketing campaign. Do Facebook fit into every marketing campaign there is? What is the best social media tool for a marketing campaign?

If you came here to find out what is THAT tool, I’m sorry to disappoint you because there isn’t one. But before you click away, let me tell you why:

#1: You can’t fix a window with a hammer

Similarly, you don’t saw with a pair of pliers. There is a tool out there for your marketing objectives and not every tool is the answer. Get this – even experienced social media experts fall into the trap of using too many tools just because they all seem to fit. Put your marketing objectives first and focus on what is it that you want to accomplish with it THEN select your tools. You don’t drill a hole in your wall only to find that it is too big or small to be used.

Here’s a simple tip that I use often to select compatible tools by using just a paper and pen:

planning an event with social media marketing ideas1. Create a master list of ALL the things you can do or can think of using social media
2. Put down your marketing objectives and describe your target audience
3. Now group the items on your list into 4 different categories: the ‘Must Haves’, ‘Good-to-Have’, ‘Maybe Next Time’ and ‘I Don’t Need It’

planning an event with social media integration4. Select your tools!

In this example, you may want to consider having a Facebook page, host a simple contest to get fans to share about the event, encourage fans to post photos from the event to win something, place QR codes at the event to uncover a mystery gift or use Foursquare to reward visitors at your event. As for ideas on how to improve your event further, you’ve got the ‘Maybe Next Time’ column to help you out.

#2: You cannot build a house with a single screwdriver

From the very same example you’ll also find that although your target audience are on Facebook, it should not be your only answer when it comes to social media marketing. At times you’ll be required to include other tools to complement your marketing campaigns such as a microsite (it can be a blog), a QR campaign for on-ground interactivity, a Foursquare special to reward loyalty or a mobile app containing an event directory and itinerary and more!

The larger your objectives are, the larger the campaign will be, and the more tools you’ll (likely) have to use but it all begins with setting the objectives right and keeping with it.

My Recommendation?

social media swiss knife

Get yourself a social media Swiss knife. I use the above method almost all the time. What about you?

Brand Focus #7: 3 Common Social Media Integration Mistakes in Your Marketing Campaigns [Friso Malaysia]

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I was flipping through the local papers recently and this particular advertisement caught my attention:

social media branding in malaysia - friso

It was a full color, full page advertisement by Friso Malaysia to promote a new baby product. What caught my attention was the “Womb Scan T-Shirt” that they are giving away with every purchase of their new product. Notice anything yet? The t-shirt has an augmented reality (AR) code printed on it.

As the usage of AR is very low in Malaysia, I was curious to find out how are they putting it to work especially by integrating social media and having that said, I decided to give the ad a try by visiting the printed website.

Mistake #1: An Unfriendly Form

I wasn’t surprised to face a registration form as most businesses do the same anyway which is a smart thing to do to build your database. However, having every single field marked as ‘required’ is a pain. On top of that, they had fields that does not relate to me but I had to fill in anyway e.g. child’s details, full address and even my identification card number. The outcome? I filled in false information simply because: 1) I don’t have a child and 2) Why does your business want my identification card number?

What can you do: If you’re preparing a form, make sure you cater to the different needs of your potential visitors. Identify what is most important to your business – would just having the name, email address, gender and DOB suffice? Remember, you do not want to put your visitors off by having an extensive form. You can always request for further details later.

Mistake #2: Relying on One Source for Traffic

Although it sounds like common sense to have your campaign blasted in as many areas as possible, it is interesting to see big brands such as Friso missing the mark. A simple visit to their official Facebook page revealed that they have made little mention to the AR campaign which made me wonder – were they relying only on press ads? How are they getting people to participate? How else are they integrating social media into this campaign?

What can you do: Have as many engagement points as possible. Putting all your eggs into one basket will not only limit your campaign’s potential and reach, but also suggests wastage of resources simply because it could’ve been better.

One thing cool about Friso is that they have a rather active customer base on Facebook where there are decent amount of interactions taking place. This also brings me to..

Mistake #3: Under Utilizing Existing Networks

Friso Malaysia owns a Facebook page with more than 30,000 fans and your business may already have an engaging network of consumers which is great. Why not use them to be advocates for your marketing campaigns? If they are already actively interacting with you, there is a good chance that they’ll be more than happy to get the word out for you. Get your network involved! Find ways to get them excited and to share their experience with you. This will not only get the word out, it gets your customers involved and allows new customers to understand you better.

What can you do: Get existing customers to share their experience with the campaign. It can be as simple as allowing them to share their stories in a forum, post a picture of them interacting with the augmented reality projection or even to produce a short video clip on how they are feeling in their pregnancy.

Bonus Mistake: Selling too Soon!

I’m not against selling. After all, you’ve spent X amount of $$ to get the campaign up, you need some sort of returns, right? However, depending on what platform your campaign is hosted on, you may want to consider holding your horses when it comes to selling – especially if you’re using a new platform such as AR in Malaysia. I was presented with the sales message when I was trying hard to get the below image projection to work and I was given no means to close it apart from refreshing the page. Are they selling too soon?

social media branding - friso malaysia
What can you do: Identify when is the best time to sell. If you’ve already got a subscription / membership system up, perhaps sending a follow-up email after would be a better idea, AFTER they’ve tried out what you have to offer. Creating a positive experience is always better than pushing a sale.

What do you think marketing campaigns today are lacking in social media integration efforts? Let’s compare notes in the comments! :)

Have You Replaced Your Wipers for #SocialMedia?

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Have you ever drove in a heavy downpour with a faulty wiper? Not so much of it being broken, but not able to give your windscreen a clean wipe – especially at night. If you haven’t, it looks something like this:
driving with bad vision on social media

Without going further, let me tell you that I’ve been driving in this condition for quite sometime. I know I can easily change the wiper blades but somehow it is always not worth the hassle and it didn’t seem like it would rain! When it does, I find me telling myself that I can handle it since I’m experienced.

How often do we have the same thought? We choose to stick to our current condition just because it is a hassle or inconvenient to change. In fact, we may think that we’re good at it – because we’ve ‘trained’ under the same situation for numerous times.

Change your social media wiper blades!

Why should you?

#1: Your vision is greatly limited

It never is a good thing when your vision is limited – especially when you’re driving. The same goes to managing your social media presence. You may be aware that you need a social media strategy for your business and it is true; but it takes more than just strategy for you to make social media work for you. You must be able to see what lies ahead of you and adapt to change and requirements because social media is about people, and people change. They can pull their brakes causing you to crash right into them because you just couldn’t see it coming.

What can you do: Always be on a look out for signs. Know what your competitors are doing. Know what you target audience are looking for. Be aware of the latest happenings especially when it comes to marketing. You do not want to be last on board the next Facebook.

#2: You drive a LOT slower

The heavier the rain, the slower you get. Many times businesses fail to integrate social media into their marketing strategy because they are stubborn. They are determined to drive forward relentlessly despite the heavy rain – which is not necessarily a good thing. Sure, it can be rewarding when you get to your destination but you may have taken much more time and exhausted much more energy than usual.

What can you do: Sometimes it is better to stop by the road to re-plan your journey with a clearer vision. Maybe you’re using the wrong route or the wrong tools to begin with. Could it be that your prospects aren’t even on Twitter?

#3: You max out your level of concentration

It takes great effort and strength to remain focused over a long period of time. Imagine driving in that condition for an hour or more – it’ll suck your life dry because you’re simply trying to make vision out of no vision. Don’t get me wrong, concentration is great and your determination is plausible but don’t you want to use that for the right purpose? You may be putting all your effort into the wrong area – whether by trying too hard to keep up with trends, emulating A-list bloggers or even digging deep for followers.

What can you do: Concentrate where it matters the most for you. It can be producing quality content, engaging with fellow bloggers from the industry, participating in tweet chats to build your networks or listening to what your customers have to say – social media isn’t social anymore if you’re too focused on the numbers.

Imagine…

clear vision on social media Driving down the road with 100% clear vision with a perfect set of wiper blades. You now can drive normally, yet enjoy the journey by perhaps turning up the music and humming away to your next destination.

It’s time to replace that wiper blades of yours for a new one.

p.s. I’ve finally replaced my car’s wiper blades!

#SocialMedia Lessons from Traffic Lights. Yes, Traffic Lights

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And I’ll say it again – traffic lights. You know, those rectangular shaped boxes on poles that flash the red, yellow and green lights on the road? How can anyone learn anything from that thing? I did.

Waiting at a traffic light

#1: The green light that everyone loves

Most people begin their journey on social media networks hopeful and they foresee increase in enquiries, sales, visitors and building a huge database of customers – they have a green vision. You’ve read success stories, attended seminars and workshops and you think you have all it takes to get you started. You created a blog, a Twitter handle, a Facebook page and all is well and green. You’re ready to roll..

#2: But the light ain’t always green

In fact, you’re likely to bump into a series of red lights when you’re just starting out – even if you’re doing everything right. It takes more than having the right plan / strategy on social media simply because you’re dealing with people on social media networks, commitment and consistency plays an important role and strategy does not.

#3: And there are times where you need to slow down

Are you pushing it too hard in your networks? Could it be that your followers cannot keep up with your countless tweets and updates enthusiasm? Slow down! Observe how are they reacting to you and talk to them for a change. You’ll be surprised of what you can find when driving at a slower speed.

#4: And beating the red light will cost you.

When faced with a red light, many at this stage resort to buying fans, followers, visits or comments which only brings temporal pleasure – such as how you may feel after beating a red light at the junction. You may feel good because there’s activity happening again but it’ll never last and it may bite you in return as purchased followers are never your followers to begin with. They probably are bots anyway and when this happens, you’re just buying numbers, not true followers.

If that isn’t enough, you may also lose all that you’ve worked so hard for, rammed down just because you couldn’t wait for the lights to turn green. Whether it is purchasing too many backlinks that backfired on search engines or driving away real followers with bots, you do not want to risk that.

Red lights are the perfect opportunity to evaluate what you’re doing on social media because you’ve got nothing to lose. It can be a time where your readership or interaction dips in numbers and it is the perfect time to identify the cause.

Remember, red lights don’t stay red forever.

Brand Focus #6: The Power of a Common Cause Using #SocialMedia

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You may have heard of many stories on how powerful social media platforms are to drive causes such as the Pepsi Refresh Project that rewards individuals with refreshing ideas or the Fair Tweets campaign by Ben & Jerry’s. What do they all have in common? 1. A great cause 2. An innovative idea and 3. Huge participation that led to success.

While there isn’t a success formula that you can reproduce, the one thing that stands among all successful marketing campaigns or causes is that there is something for others to talk about – a common passion, a common interest, a common curiosity or even a common anger like the recent lashings against designer brand Versace.

Having that said, it is not the level of innovation that draws people together (although it contributes to its success) but the level of the common ground established.

The Power of a Identifying a Common Goal / Cause on Social Media

A community is a powerful ‘being’, be it offline or online and today’s social media networks makes it so easy for one to start their own community. It is no wonder why businesses jump unto the bandwagon almost immediately as they recognize the need and the power of having their very own community.

It was all over the news – Malaysia, the country I live in became famous over the weekend as it was broadcasted globally due to a recent event named Bersih (clean) which involved a peaceful rally in the heart of Kuala Lumpur demanding for a fair and clean upcoming election. You may have only heard about it and perhaps are aware of what happened during the rally but what caught my interest most was how the entire cause was promoted heavily over social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter weeks before.

spreading a cause using social media

You’ll realize that the cause not only drew close to 160,000 fans but people also spread the cause willingly because it was something they can relate and resonate with, to the extend that they opted to place a badge on their display pictures (as seen in the screen shot above) to indicate their support.

What happened on Twitter? Well, you can simply search the hashtag #bersih to find out for yourself. All I can say is that the tweets flew by so quickly that I can’t even read them (and I thought I was well trained on #blogchat).

On top of that, Malaysians in other countries such as Taiwan, Melbourne and Singapore also ‘participated’ in the rally by gathering where they’re at to show their support. The medium of communication? Social media. Live updates on Facebook, Twitter and even recorded videos on YouTube.

From a business viewpoint, that is definitely a success story as word-of-mouth has taken its course and in this case, internationally.

What is it in your cause that causes others to resonate?

This is the question you should be asking yourself whatever your cause is, profit or not.

What makes others passionate about the cause? What is it that causes others to feel the same? Could it be empathy? Could it be anger? Could it be pride? Could it be fun?

Have that answered, then all that’s left is to identify the right communication medium to spread the word.

Is there a specific cause that strikes you the most? What is it that draws you to it?