How Words in Your Company Builds Culture

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June 26, 2018

Words are powerful. The right words used can motivate, inspire, build and encourage; but also to tear down, hurt and crush.

While that sounds like common sense, the words we use tend to roll out a little too freely and we justify that by calling it a freedom of speech or as a form of expression. And this freedom contributes to the culture you are building in your company, be it a startup or corporate organisation.

Culture is not something where you frame up in your board room nor is it a string of (vague) fancy words to sound cool. It starts and sticks with the smallest detail – like the conversations that happens surrounding work.

A negative complaint, a passing remark, a jab toward your superiors, clients or vendors, sarcastic responses, a common curse word or phrase when faced with an unfavourable situation may all seem very normal in a social context but can very well be contributing factors to productivity, morale and growth both individually and collectively within the company, and here’s why:

#1: Words stick

If you recall a random not-so-nice remark made by someone towards you, or just a simple compliment about your hair, that already shows that words do stick – and they do, no matter whether you like it or not. And for many, these words stay with you consciously or unconsciously for the rest of your career / life; and the negative ones haunt you at your lowest.

#2: Words affect your team

Words said in in jest are the worst! You may not have meant it literally when you said “Yea, the dude has always been lazy and useless to the team.” but this sentence alone can spark off many political sidelining within the team.

#3: Words affect yourself

“Crap! I’m an idiot!”. Say that often enough in every mistake you make and you’ll successfully crush your self worth, esteem and confidence over time.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying we should all be constantly positive with rainbows and unicorns in the sky, or that we should always be hyper-sensitive with what people may feel when we speak – that’s self limiting and frankly, will drive you crazy.

Instead, remember that the words we use are a choice. It’s easier said than done but if we remind ourselves of the bigger picture of what we want to achieve in our workplace and as a career, we can redefine and switch the words we choose to say to create a better workplace culture.

Culture starts with people, and that’s you.

Read: How to build company culture

The Death of Facebook Promotional Apps?

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August 28, 2013

| Jan Wong

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

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

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

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

1. Collection of database

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

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

2. A sense of privacy

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

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

3. Sense of security

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

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

4. Backend monitoring and control

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

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

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

5. Performance reporting and analysis

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

6. Flexibility and space for content

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

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

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

7. Minimize clutter on timeline

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

8. Easy reference

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

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

9. Brand experience

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

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

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

10. Deep integration

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

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

Bonus: Fan Gate

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

So there you have it!

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

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

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

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June 26, 2013

| Jan Wong

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

However, can SEO benefit OFFLINE marketing efforts?

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

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

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

5 benefits of making your search engine presence known offline

#1: It captures the audience’s attention

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

#2: It’s easy to remember

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

#3: It’s a familiar design

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

#4: It’s a conversation starter

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

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

#5: It boosts credibility almost instantly

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

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

But wait, is the brand for real?

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

I was stumped.

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

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

Stop Thinking Like a Big Brand and Go Small

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November 28, 2011

| Jan Wong

I can’t help but to notice a pattern among small business owners and start-up entrepreneurs as it would seem that the buzz word among them is “global”. Now, don’t get me wrong as I’m not against being visionary and ambitious but overindulgence in this “global” concept can very well be a mindset that comes into your way in growing your business.

Take any sport as an example – you do not challenge the course with the highest difficulty when you start out simple because it will probably leave you injured or killed (depending on the type of sport). However, it is good to look forward in challenging that course in the future – when you’re fit for it.

So, why should you not think like a big brand? Here are 4 reasons:

#1: Budget

I’ll skip the part explaining the difference in marketing budget between a big brand and a small business but know this – branding and marketing is not dependent on how huge your budget is. Money simply has the potential to speed up the growing (or declining) process of your brand.

Thankfully, the web is favorable to small businesses especially with the introduction of social media. If your target audience is on Facebook, focus on building a relationship with them and grow your network organically. This will create long term traction for your business with significant savings on cost. Don’t be fooled by the misconceptions of social media.

#2: Manpower

With limited manpower on your team, you may not be able to go on a labor intensive campaign such as roadshows or huge events. Forcibly doing so may spread your workforce so thin that it may hurt your business in return. Instead, use this limitation to your advantage by being able to provide a closer communication with your customers.

One of the beauty of a small business is communication. Big brands often let the account managers, sales or marketing team do the job while in small businesses, you as a business owner work on it hands-on and that makes a difference. Focus on providing personalized services and that will keep you ahead of your competitors. Even big brands are moving into personalized services.

#3: Systems and Procedures

Big brands in general have various systems and procedures to keep them in check whether it is for sales, requesting for support or even to get a marketing campaign approved. Sometimes, it takes weeks to get a request approved due to the many departments involved. While the control is there, it is not what your small business should be doing.

Small businesses usually have the luxury of being quick and fluid in decision making thus allowing a shorter turnaround time. Use this to your advantage and keep the ideas going and experiment on them.

#4: Networks and Reputation

Most big brands are already well connected and engaged both online and offline. Having that said, it is likely that their marketing campaigns will automatically gain a whole lot more participation or visibility than what you can achieve with your small business.

Turning that around, you can establish your reputation in local communities and this is something big brands are unlikely to follow. Be targeted in your marketing campaigns and reach out to your target audience individually and grow together with them – this will lower your overheads but gives you a laser-point focus.

Go Small but be Scale-able

Likewise in start-ups or small businesses, instead of thinking about going global and becoming a big brand, think of how can you start SCALING your business towards becoming global. Remember, even big brands started small.