Tag Archives: blogs

How Long Should Your Company Spend on Social Media in a Day?

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This question has been popping up quite a lot in my recent conversations with clients and friends alike – how much is too much and how do one estimate accordingly? Some companies swear by 1-hour daily while some go with 24-hours constant monitoring – is that really necessary?

The duration spent on social media defers from one to another and is dependent on 2 simple factors:

#1: The social media tools your company is using

Some tools require more time to monitor (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) compared to others (e.g. blogs) as tools such as Facebook has a lot more interactivity going on as compared to blogs. Also depending on the size of your network, you may need to spend more time replying to posts, @mentions and comments left by your followers or readers.

The more tools you use will definitely take up more time so be selective! Use only those that matters most for your business and concentrate on them first!

#2: What social media is used for (i.e. its intended purpose)

This goes all the way back to your company’s objectives in utilizing social media in the first place. Is it used to disseminate information? Is it used to promote your products / services? It is used to listen to what’s hot and not? It is used to engage with your customers? Is it used to attract new customers? Is it used to obtain feedback? Your reasons will determine how long you would want to spend on social media. If you’re just wanting to disseminate information, chances are, you’ll only need to spend time on content creation while if you’re there to listen to complains, you may want to play a more active role.

Be clear of what you want to achieve with social media networks as you won’t be able to do everything at one go especially if you’re new to it.

Closing Thoughts

As simple as it seems, most companies intend to dive into the sea of social media tools without first understanding what is required and whether it is really necessary. Not every business requires a blog and not every business have to be on Twitter.

Know your goals and no longer you’ll feel that time is never enough on social media. Know why you’re doing it and no longer you’ll feel that the results does not justify your time.

Coming up next: How to manage your time on social media?

An Interesting Beginning to 2011: Positioning for Opportunities

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In case you’re wondering – this site also reveals part of my happenings in life, injecting a little bit more flavour to the site as a whole; something lighter than the usual information dosage :)

I know it has only been a month into the new year but 2011 has been great (and really busy) for me. There are tons of exciting projects lined up this year including online consultancy projects, branding events and more!

Openminds Resources have also recently secured a consultancy project with one of Malaysia’s largest chocolate retailers / manufacturers which is really exciting to the team as it also allows us to get an exclusive insight to the chocolate industry in Malaysia and not to forget, delicious chocolate tours. I will also be sharing updates on this project, granting you – awesome readers insight as we take on this project on online positioning, marketing and social media.

Interestingly, I was also offered an opportunity to be a part time lecturer at one of Malaysia’s top IT universities – Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation (APIIT / UCTI). This is definitely an interesting experience as I too, graduated from the very same university.

Standing and sharing in front of the students is an humbling experience and yet another learning curve! I actually look forward to the classes as this will also give me the opportunity to connect with the students and to hopefully inspire them to be future entrepreneurs and leaders as they inspire me to take on new heights.

What About You?

I hope it has been an awesome beginning for you! If you’re on the look out for a start-out point, here are 3 simple ways you can create your own beginnings!

#1: Position Yourself for Opportunities!

They often say “be at the right place at the right time”. Easier said than done, but you can always position yourself in situations that opportunities can come. It may be taking on a leadership role, participating in networking sessions, attending conferences, taking up new responsibilities or even standing in for your colleague at work – opportunities often come in ways we don’t expect it to. The trick is to POSITION ourselves to run into those opportunities.

#2: Talk Opportunities!

Do you have something that you’re absolutely passionate about? Whether it is keeping up with the latest technology updates or getting a promotion at work, you need to talk about it. Not just talk, but talk to the right people – the more the merrier. Make yourself available to these opportunities. Some people create blogs so that they can talk and share about their passion and blogs are a powerful way to express yourself and get noticed… even by your boss!

#3: Push Your Limits!

I’m sure there are times where you simply feel powerless or already at your limit. Your creative juices stopped flowing and you’re stagnant at where you’re at. At times like these comes BIG opportunity! Instead of focusing on your limitations, identify what exactly is putting a cap on your limits and work towards removing them! When this happens, new opportunities are opened to you and you’re ready for greater heights!

Moving Forward

Opportunities come and go and it is often up to us on how we make the most out of them. For those of you that are celebrating the Lunar New Year, this site is now in red in conjunction with this joyous celebration!

May 2011 be filled with great opportunities, good health and endless blessings!

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! :)

Should Companies Ban Social Media Among Employees?

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should companies ban social media?

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more companies here in Malaysia putting a barrier around their employees, preventing them from accessing social media tools within the premise. While some go about a complete ban, some left room for the marketing department to roam about freely.

Is that a good move?

It is fully understandable that social media tools especially Facebook, Twitter and blogging can be a huge time waster at work. Employees may be playing games, chatting away or busy updating their personal blogs instead of being ‘productive’ at the workplace. It’s no wonder why companies have to resort to a complete ban.

However, it is also interesting to note that some of these companies are supposedly customer centric, saying that they listen to their customers and etc but at the same time, staying out of social media. Strange indeed.

Blogs (social media) doesn’t get people fired, people get people fired. – Deb Schultz, Altimeter Group

To me, social media should not be banned in a company at all. Instead, companies should establish clear guidelines on how social media can be used. Companies such as Dell takes social media very seriously and goes to the extend of training their employees in this area and they have been utmost successful.

IBM takes a different approach by allowing their employees to write their social media policy for them. Sounds absurd? Not really, considering the fact that since the employees will be the ones using social media, they should be the ones setting the guidelines. In fact, they are more likely to keep to it if they formed it themselves. Plus giving your employees this liberty may cultivate an innovative culture in your company.

Some companies don’t even have rules to regulate social media usage. They simply let their employees do what they like, as long they perform in the end.

So.. What’s the Conclusion?

There is really no hard and fast rule in implementing / regulating social media in a company. I really do prefer both Dell and IBM’s way of doing it but it also depends on your comfort level as a business owner in the industry. Remember, social media can act as both an asset and a liability to your brand. Experiment with techniques and find out what’s best for your environment – social media only works when you try.

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! :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Offline Operations

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“Is online / social media alone the way forward for your business?“

Being a huge believer of the importance of INTEGRATION instead of implementation, my answer to that is NO. Businesses today are too caught up with the ideology of social media but fail to realize the huge potential social media can bring when integrated into traditional marketing efforts.

It is important for businesses to realize that social media integration does not mean that by having social media presence everything will fall into place. If you take a look at same of these real life integrations of social media with Facebook and Twitter, you’ll find that these companies are successful online because they managed to integrate it into existing OFFLINE business operations.

Here are some integration ideas for you to maximize your marketing potential:

#1: EVENTS + SOCIAL MEDIA

5 Ideas on how to enhance your events with social media on MashableHave an event coming up soon? Whether it is an exhibition, launch or a regular meetup / happening, explore how you can spice up your event with available social media tools. You can use Facebook to share photos leading towards the event to build hype and organize giveaways; use Twitter to share real time updates on what’s happening on the scene and behind the scenes, facilitate tweetchats or setup a Twitter wall at the event with a contest mechanism to build followers; rewarding visitors that check in to your venue on Foursquare or even a treasure hunt!

There is a timely article written on Mashable yesterday on this very topic with 5 ideas on how you can enhance your events with social media. Click on the thumbnail to check it out!

#2: ADVERTISING / PROMO + SOCIAL MEDIA

promotion and advertising on social media

You have a new product or service and is wanting some follower / fan love? Facebook can be used to disseminate information regarding your product or to give out demo units; if you have an existing network, identify strong personas and request for them to review your product and service on blogs; use Twitter to it’s fullest potential by sharing exclusive deals or twouchers (vouchers) to start a string of retweets; perhaps the mayor on Foursquare entitled to a VIP-class treatment of your service?

#3: CUSTOMER SERVICE + SOCIAL MEDIA

customer service on twitterI can’t stress the importance and the effectiveness of customer service using social media. The more active channels you make available for your customers and prospects to approach you, the better.

The 2 common mediums are Facebook and Twitter. If you can capitalize on these 2 you should be in the run of something good. Do not leave questions unattended for days, reply to every enquiry within 1-2 hours consistently and your customers will find GREAT value in your service.

One thing to note is that you should never, ever give out inconsistent / inaccurate information on social media as you could cook up a storm in a matter of minutes, especially if you have a huge network.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even use Twitter to take orders for your business like Coffee Groundz did!

#4: ON-SITE INTERACTIVITY + SOCIAL MEDIA

Who says social media are only limited to virtual interactions? Coca Cola brought the ‘like’ feature on Facebook to life! Check out the video below to see how it happened:

I agree that this setup can be a little too complicated for some to take on but it sure triggers some simpler ideas. A giant photo tagging wall or a mini wall in front of each exhibitor for visitors to ‘post’ on, the only limit is your imagination :)

Have you come across any interesting social media integrations into real life (offline) operations?

Do share them here!

How to Start Your Own Self Hosted WordPress Blog

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how to start your own wordpress siteWith new bloggers joining the blogosphere each and everyday, the demand of having a personal domain name (e.g. www.yourname.com) remains as high as ever. If you’ve always wanted this but do not know how, this article will be guiding you through a series of steps to get your very own self hosted WordPress blog up and running in no time!

Step #1: Get A Domain Name + Hosting Service

A domain name is your site’s address or URL and it has to be hosted before anyone can see it’s contents. To see whether your desired domain name is available, I use www.GoDaddy.com (for .com / .net / .org / international domains) and www.DomainRegistry.my (for .com.my / .my / org.my / local domains).

Most people get really confused with two things at this stage:

1. The difference between domain names (e.g. .com and .com.my)

Let me start by saying that having a .com does not make one more superior than a .com.my in any way, vice versa. The only difference is that a .com.my (Malaysia) or a .co.uk (UK) for that matter, is controlled locally by their respective country’s registrar for domains – which also means that you may need to have certain qualifications / requirements for you to obtain it.

For example, to qualify for a .com.my domain, you’ll need to have a registered business / company with SSM (Companies Commission of Malaysia) while a .my domain requires you to have a Malaysian identification card (IC) number.

“One thing to note though, is that .com domains may have a slight advantage over local domains on search engines but it’s not a huge set back at all if you’re into SEO”

2. The difference between hosting packages (e.g. how much space will I need?)

If you’re not very good with technical terms, never mind the long lists of functionalities given – but look out for the below:

a. Operating Systems – Usually between Windows and Linux. If you’re only interested in running WordPress on it, then either does not matter. However, some providers have their prices tagged differently (e.g. Windows more pricey).

uploading directly into the server takes up space and bandwidthb. Space – This is your storage space, some what like your hard disk space on your computer. If you’re not planning to upload tons of pictures and videos to your site directly, anywhere between 5GB – 10GB of space would last you for quite some time. To save space, you can always upload your pictures to Flickr while videos to YouTube and link them to your posts whenever needed.

c. Bandwidth – The larger the bandwidth, the more traffic your site will be able to handle. Usually hosting providers offer 2 – 5 times the bandwidth of the storage space in GBs (e.g. 10GB space -> 50GB bandwidth) which should be more than sufficient if your pictures are off loaded elsewhere such as on Flickr.

d. MySQL Databases – WordPress runs on MySQL Databases and each blog requires ONE MySQL database so make sure your hosting package has at least 1 (any more won’t hurt!).

Note that there IS a difference between MySQL and MS SQL databases!

e. Email Accounts – Fancy a [email protected] email address? This is what it’s all about. 5 email accounts will grant you up to 5 different email addresses and so on.

Total investment here: Varies from RM80 – RM350 (domain name + hosting) depending on the service provider, chargeable per year

Step #2: It’s Time to Work with WordPress

If you used to have a blog on WordPress.com, it’s time to abandon that and head over to WordPress.org instead and download the latest WordPress version (it’ll be in a zip file). When it’s done, simply unzip the file and rename it (if you wish).

the famous 5 minute installationNow, there are several steps you’ll need to do and this famous 5-minute WordPress Installation Guide will lead you through the entire process with a breeze!

If you’re wondering what is this FTP thingy mentioned in the guide, think of it as a way for you to upload your files to the server. You can do it either through a software e.g. FileZilla or WS_FTP. Either software will require your login credentials which will be provided by your hosting service provider.

Step #3: Recommendations and Configurations

Congratulations for making it this far! That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Before you go trigger-happy experimenting new themes, widgets and etc, I strongly recommend the usage of:

how to configure wordpress permalinksa. Pretty Permalinks – Changes the links of your posts and pages from www.yoursite.com/?p=123 to www.yoursite.com/something-that-makes-sense. Why? You’re telling search engines what your post is thus making you look good on the ranks.

To change your permalink format: WP Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks

I am using Custom Structure: /%postname%/ but you may want to opt for something else (see guide on permalinks here)

Note that some servers are not automatically configured to process pretty permalinks. Linux servers requires the Mod_Rewrite module while Windows servers requires the URL Rewrite module for pretty permalinks to work – contact your service provider if unsure.

b. Plugins! – There are tons of WP Plugins out there but the below are the bare minimum:

  1. All in One SEO Pack – Because we all know that SEO can bring about organic traffic from search engines
  2. Google Analytics – Insert your Google Analytics code to start tracking your visitors’ data
  3. Sharebar – Allows visitors to share your posts across the social network with ease
  4. Sitemap – Many bloggers overlook the importance of having a sitemap, it helps search engines crawl your site better
  5. Database Backup – One of my favorite as it automatically sends the database backup to my email on a weekly basis. I do not need to worry about missing posts again!
  6. WPTouch – There are more and more mobile browsers today than ever therefore having a mobile friendly version of your blog is vital

#4: You’re Done!

Welcome to your WP Dashboard!

With all those in place, you are now free to configure your desired theme, import posts from your old WordPress blog or even get started on your very first post right away! Starting your own website has never been easier with WordPress and you should really have one if you have not already.

Too Complicated?

janwong.myThis site you’re on now (janwong.my) is hosted on a huge server with sarahtay.my as it’s only neighbor for now. It gets a little lonely here so if you’re interested, I can do all the steps above for you from domain name purchasing (.com), web hosting, installing AND configuring WordPress for a mere RM120 per year on a goodwill basis!

Note: This offer is only open to individuals wanting a self-hosted WordPress blog. Only less than 10 slots available for grabs! :)

What will you receive?

exclusive wp hosting 2010 - janwong.my

What will I get in return?

A new neighbor and no longer owning an under utilized server!

If you are interested or you have any questions regarding this service, simply contact me via email, a Tweet or simply by leaving a comment :)

What is Online Social Media?

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As you may already know, the Online Social Media or the infamous Web 2.0 / 3.0 is the marketing trend of today’s business environment. Marketeers are using it to their advantage world wide and social media does not seem to be putting on brakes anytime soon as in continues to evolve.. rapidly!

Malaysia is definitely not out of the picture. This Online Social Media ‘concept’ is also seen to be the IN thing for businesses and many have been (or at least, trying to) implementing this concept in their corporate strategies. As per every business execution, some made it and some didn’t.

Why, you ask? Let’s first explore the mindset of the business owners and entrepreneurs towards social media – I recently came across many business owners and entrepreneurs lately that seem to have their own interpretation of this ‘concept’ that has been reaping great results globally.

Here’s a summary of responses I manage to gather from the conversations I had with them regarding Online Social Media:

Social Media Interpretations

Although none of the above is entirely wrong, but as expected, terms such as ‘Facebook’, ‘Blog’ and ‘Bloggers’ came out most often and is found to be their very first reply e.g. “usage of Facebook and blogs…”. It would also seem that to some of them, social media means inviting bloggers to write about a certain happening / product / advertorial. Some says it is an additional avenue for promotion and sales, a tool to target the younger generation and the list goes on..

It is sad to see that many business owners today still have their own interpretation and mindsets, and has yet to come to realize and see the importance of Online Social Media in Malaysia, seeing it as merely a tool or an extension of their business instead of integrating social media as PART of their business. Hence, they see it as a only a ‘concept’, a ‘good to have’ but not a ‘must have’, a ‘trend’ but not ‘real business’.

How about you? What is your interpretation of the Online Social Media?

p.s. next post: “why social media?“