Tag Archives: brand focus

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

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

However, can SEO benefit OFFLINE marketing efforts?

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

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

hlb-seo-1

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

hlb-seo-2

5 benefits of making your search engine presence known offline

#1: It captures the audience’s attention

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

#2: It’s easy to remember

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

#3: It’s a familiar design

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

#4:  It’s a conversation starter

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

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

#5: It boosts credibility almost instantly

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

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

But wait, is the brand for real?

hlb-seo-3

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

I was stumped.

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

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

 

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

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

What went wrong?

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

3 Things to Learn from this Incident

#1: Speed Matters

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

#2: Never Fight Fire with Fire

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

#3: Never Let the Fire go Wild

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

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

#1: Bring it Off-Grid

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

#2: Get a Trained Team

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

#3: Make Things Clear

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

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

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

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

Brand Focus #11: Interactive Videos As A Social Media Marketing Campaign [Wing Heong]

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The local dried barbecue meat industry in Malaysia has always been competitive especially when the Lunar New Year is around the corner as it is commonly made as gifts during the festive season. The delicacy producers, however, have been relying on traditional promotional methods over and over again – television commercials, radio commercials, print ads, in-store promotions, roadshows to popular shopping malls, giving out free samples and etc until recent.

The Change

Wing Heong, one of the producers of this delicacy decided to make a change. A change in which was told (after the campaign) that yielded unexpected results and a visible increase in sales – all through a single interactive video (as below) shared primarily on Facebook.

My first reaction was: “Whoa! This is REALLY smart!” and I instantaneously shared it. The thing is, I wasn’t the only one.

Here are three (3) important aspects to learn from this interactive video social campaign:

#1: One size cannot fit all… Know who you’re targeting

The barbecue dried meat has been a delicacy for years especially among the Chinese community during the Lunar New Year. This product has been popular among the older generation and Wing Heong wanted to go beyond that – to also reach the younger (tech savvy) generation of today which led to the development of this campaign. If you would to think about it, a full-fledged digital campaign may not be able to reach their existing (more mature) customers as there’s a digital divide – it was a risk they were willing to take which leads to my next point…

#2: To know them well… And use the right approach

“We came out with the Superhero character called ‘Yok Man’ to represent the new generation and to rebrand Wing Heong so it would be perceived as a young and vibrant brand as opposed to a traditional brand.” – Wilson Pee, creator of the interactive video campaign

Wing Heong took time to understand their audience. They knew they needed to be different from their competitors who were also using digital animation to reach out to the consumers. They created an animated character that was closely representing kungfu legend Yip Man that was made popular in a recent Hong Kong made movie, a movie the local Chinese were able to identify to easily.

On top of that, the fictional storyline is closely knitted to Malaysia and the introduction of another popular local delicacy, the Seremban Siew Pau (baked dumpling) to draw a greater relation with the Malaysian-Chinese target audience.

#3: Drive them home… By giving them something to remember you by

Marketers understand the importance of creating memorability with their consumers. Visuals and content are both important and great but what makes a campaign memorable? With a young and engaging story line in place, the creators of the Wing Heong campaign allowed their target audience to actively interact with the characters itself by punching in commands to assist ‘Yok Man’ in defeating his enemies.

The Results

This interactive video garnered 565,792 views to date, shared over 131,000 times and “Liked” over 243,000 times on Facebook.

If an average Facebook user has 130 friends, the video and the name ‘Wing Heong’ has potentially reached more than 17 million impressions on the most popular social network in Malaysia. Sure, anyone can create an interactive video and it may garner even more views but what made Wing Heong’s campaign standout wasn’t just the video but the ingredients and groundwork behind it that made it work.

The combination of the above made the character ‘Yok Man’ into an immediate icon simply because the consumers are now able to identify a kungfu legend and an engaging story line to the brand.

Brand Focus #10: A Grouposal and 4 things Marketers Can Learn From It

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The proposal on Groupon Malaysia

Okay, this isn’t exactly a brand but it won my vote for being innovative – this guy proposed to his girlfriend using Groupon.

How did it work? He ‘sold’ himself by publishing his deal on Groupon Malaysia, knowing that his girlfriend checks Groupon on a daily basis. The deal garnered almost 48,000 ‘buys’ which indicated the support he received for the proposal. The girl said “Yes”.

4 things Marketers can learn from this proposal:

#1: Know your target audience

How many marketers out there actually sit down to really understand their target audience? I ask this because it is tough. Many businesses out there want to expand too soon, without thoroughly understanding their existing audience and it goes beyond just demographics. What are their behavioral patterns online? What are their interest? The closer you get the better it gets, just like how the guy knew the girlfriend checks out Groupon every morning without fail.

#2: Don’t limit your marketing tools even before it starts

A common scenario
Client: I want a Facebook campaign.
Marketer: Sure! Let’s do one.

I must admit I fall into that once in a while too, simply because it is the easy way out. However the real question to ask is: Will _________ be THE effective tool? Could there be a better tool out there that your target audience is using? Many pick Facebook / Twitter simply because it has a huge user base. But let’s face it – how many will actually participate in your marketing campaign? Think of other tools that can make your campaign fun and memorable outside of the usual Facebook.

#3: Get people talking

Mark Hughes in his book Buzz Marketing says that there are 6 buttons to get people talking (buzz): the taboo, the unusual, the outrageous, the hilarious, the remark-able and the secrets. In the case of the Grouposal, it is the unusual – and it generated more than 6,000 shares on Facebook alone. How’s that for a proposal? Give your campaign an angle that people can talk about.

#4: Be on the look out for opportunities to promote

Ridding the hype

Sometimes you do not need to create your own successful marketing campaigns – you can hitch a ride on the hype. Traditionally, marketers rely on festive seasons such as Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween and etc to market themselves. What about weddings, birthdays, anniversaries or proposals such as the above? This hair salon saw the opportunity to promote themselves using this proposal that was stirring much buzz.

See the Grouposal here

What do you think of this Grouposal? Is there anything else that can make a better campaign?

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?

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?

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! :)

Brand Focus #5: Groupon in Malaysia – Friend or Foe for Your Business?

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will groupon help businesses grow?It has been a couple of months now since Groupon officially came into Malaysia by acquiring GroupsMore.com and many businesses have hopped unto what I call the Groupon hype – a similar scene happening around the world. Businesses go on Groupon for marketing purposes, to draw crowd or bargain hunters to their store / outlet and hopefully translates into future sales (click here if you’ve never heard of Groupon before).

I managed to talk to two different business owners recently and we somehow got to the topic of Groupon and it would seem that they both have been badly ‘pinched’ by Groupon.

Initial Observation: Groupon As a Foe

1. Their business actually experienced losses. Groupon deals attracts the crowd, that’s for sure. If your products already have low margins to begin with, you may experience losses – especially when the crowd pours in for your awesome deal.

2. Their business cannot cope with the crowd. So you’ve got a deal up and you’re fully booked for the whole of next month – but you do not have the resources and the capacity to manage each and every customer. Mismanagement may turn away customers for good and if you’re planning to invest into more manpower and equipment, you better have the margins well calculated because…

3. Your existing customers (that may not be on Groupon) will also want discounts because of the awesome deal you’re already giving to others.

4. On top of that, the customer retention rate is said to be very low, at about 5% – 10% and in some cases it still does not make up to the ideal margin.

While the above may not be true for every business out there, many have experienced the negative affect of Groupon which led me to think – is Groupon really that bad of a business / marketing model to adopt?

My answer is: no.

7 Tips on How to Maximize Groupon for Your Business

#1: Know Your Margins

Understand this before proceeding: while every business can use Groupon, not every business should use Groupon. The reason is simple – if your business operates on very low profit margins, you’ll definitely end up with a loss – especially if you’re a small business without any marketing budget set aside. Know how much of a margin you’re able to spare (and survive), even if there’s a large crowd. Set the group discount rate at a level in which you’re comfortable at and yet remain attractive.

#2: Know Your Business Operations

This applies best to the service industries. Know when are your peak and off-peak seasons or timings in a day. ‘Sell’ your off-peaks cheaper in return for crowd. This is where Groupon can truly shine – put in terms and conditions specifying that the offer / deal will only work during specific timing of a day (e.g. 3-5pm) to boost sales rather than not making any sale during the off-peak hours.

#3: Never Give in Quality for Quantity

Use the crowd to your advantage – show them what you’re able to offer even when you’re under pressure. Whether it is customer service or food preparation, make sure you’re showing your customers the best you can offer. This is the time to give them a reason to come back for more!

#4: Build Your Database – Engage

Take this opportunity to build your database by engaging with your customers individually. Talk to them, get them to subscribe to your newsletter, ‘like’ you Facebook page, ‘follow’ your Twitter handle, sign-up for a loyalty programme, participate in a contest or even to write a testimonial for you. In other words, do not let them leave without leaving you with something valuable for your business. On top of that…

#5: Follow-up Offers

Don’t let them leave empty handed! Give them something in return to invite them to come back for more. Something along the lines of “bring a friend on your next visit to enjoy a similar treat” can do wonders. Retention rates are low because businesses do not give the customers sufficient reasons to stay. So why let them leave empty handed?

#6: Make The News

Make use of the crowd to spread the news! Snap pictures, tweet away, launch a Foursquare special and create buzz across existing social media platforms. Customers are drawn to crowd and if you are already attracting one, let them know you have one!

#7: Encourage Feedback

This is the most important of all – always ask for feedback from your customers so that you’ll know what went wrong / right to do better in your next Groupon deal. Offer as many feedback options as possible – through Twitter, Facebook, contact forms or emails and be sure to respond to everyone of them positively.

Have you used Groupon for your business? How did it work out for you? How else do you think Groupon can benefit businesses?

Brand Focus #4: Using #SocialMedia for an Offline #Marketing Campaign

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So I was heading to Digital Mall a week ago and this caught my attention:

@the_officeguy spotted working outdoors

The guy was dressed in working attire, complete with a tie, in a pair of orange boots sitting by the pavement by a busy road. I moved on since I initially thought it was some flyer distribution gimmick but there were similar guys situated all around the area. They were pretty difficult to miss and I was totally intrigued with what’s the entire concept all about. I spotted the Twitter handle @The_OfficeGuy and decided to look him up.

the_officeguy twitter profileSo, the Twitter profile and the timeline did not say much about him. I dropped him a @mention and he introduced himself the same as in his profile. That made me wonder – if this is supposedly a promotional campaign (and I was pretty sure it is), why isn’t he promoting a single bit on the product / service? After observing the timeline for about a week now, @The_OfficeGuy is all about running contests and replying @mentions.

At this stage, I was determined to uncover this ‘mystery’ of @The_OfficeGuy. After several searches I found that it is actually a campaign by Microsoft – promoting their cloud solutions (that’s why the cloud is there) such as Office 365.

@The_OfficeGuy is related to Microsoft cloud solutions

3 Things We Can Learn from This Campaign

#1: Curiosity drives conversations

It is a good idea to use social media platforms to drive conversations for your offline promotional campaigns. The reason is simple: you get people talking – especially if the campaign actually DO drive conversations! Why not bring the conversations online in which you too, can respond to them?

#2: You put a face to your campaign

Microsoft managed to put a ‘face’ and a real-life scenario to its cloud solutions. This way, the promotion takes a more human and conversational approach without being in-your-face. Consumers had it enough when it comes to blatant advertising.

#3: Provide a reason to follow you

Here’s where I think @The_OfficeGuy should have done better. The campaign created curiosity and people (with Twitter) naturally began engaging with them but it would seem that not many decided to follow him. Why? I came up with 3 reasons:

1. People somewhat know that this IS a campaign. So why follow an advertisement channel?
2. All it does is to talk, talk and talk. What can I get out of listening to his conversations with others?
3. (Referring to the Twitter profile) What value can I get out of the misadventures of someone?

I can’t argue it’s capabilities in drawing curiosity and responses but if you can’t keep the consumers, you’re merely a shopfront display. It may be more effective if  there is a balance between the tweets – engagement vs providing value. You do not need to sell your product, but cleverly picking out its benefits and usage in an educational tone will do better.

Bonus: This works great with local businesses

There’s no need for expensive print advertisements. If your business has a targeted audience in a specific geographical area or even with limited budget, you may want to consider narrowing your promotional focus such as Microsoft. Concentrate on one location to build visibility and utilize social media platforms for engagement to take place. Your business may be the next talk of the town!

What do you think about the campaign? Are there areas that you think they’ve done well? Is there anything lacking?

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

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

social media mishaps in malaysiaAre You Listening Attentively?

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

What Can You Learn Out Of This?

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

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

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

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

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

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