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Nominated For The 2nd Ping.sg Blog Awards

I must really apologise for not blogging much this week. I think it has been the least I’ve blogged since I’ve started the blog, but work has really been tough (though incredibly enjoyable).

The 2nd Ping.sg blog awards (blog aggregator in Singapore with about 3,500 blogs) have their nominees and I’m nominated in three categories:

(for “Are Bloggers Really Influencers?”)

(for “Why Plurk Over Twitter #3: Organic Conversations“)

Thank you to those who nominated me. If I’ve ever talked to you (in person) about why I blog, you know it’s not for the “fame” or money (I don’t even have ads!), but it’s really just me trying to share my love for this fascinating new digital space with you, and hopefully help spread the word about social media and how it can help you in your personal life, academic life or professional life.

I didn’t nominate myself for anything primarily because I thought it’s be a good gauge to see what the community finds valuable. I think the fact that the community has chosen two posts in particular that are aimed at convincing businesses that bloggers are indeed influencers and fostering conversation and community tells me that locally, the people who’re reading are listening and finding some value in it, and that is very, very encouraging.

So do check out the awards nominees page and vote for who you like. I’m not going to ask that you vote for me because looking at the nominees across the board, I think the community has already won.

Tags: are bloggers really influencers, best review post singapore, blog awards, community, conversation, dialogue, most insightful blog singapore, most insightful post singapore, organic conversations, ping.sg, ping.sg blog awards, Plurk, spread the word about social media, twitter, why plurk over twitter

2 Comments | Posted in » Announcements, Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, Social Networks, community, social media, twitter

Speaking To 450 P&G Executives About Gen Y

So today Estee, Ian, Michael, Dorothy and I headed down to Sheraton Tower to speak to about 450 P&G Executives about Generation Y, the New Consumer and our purchase decisions as well as media consumption habits.

Michael, Dorothy and Ian getting ready.

Without a doubt, it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to (not including emceeing) and I hope they found it useful. One big concern (as always) is how “safe” it is to put your brands in the hands of consumers. As one of the execs put it, how do we know a blog won’t serve as a “brand spoiler”?

Left side of the room

Right side of the room.

I think it’s simple. The point I tried to hammer home today is: If your content or brand or product or service doesn’t suck, it won’t happen. By suck I mean the whole world hates it. I don’t think it has to be a perfect product, but a flawed one open to feedback is fine. And if you’re P&G, the textbook example for great brands, why should you be afraid? Your products should speak for themselves!

The one question I always want to ask is this: If you have kids (say, above 15). Do you really believe that your current media buying habits are in sync with their media consumption habits? I tried asking this today, but less than 10 people in the audience had kids over 15. So it became a moot point.

To some extent I think that’s a very dangerous position for an organisation to be in. If your key decision makers are at the age where they’re not interacting with Gen Y and think they are “safe” in the knowledge that what has worked for the last 30-40 years of marketing will still work, that spells trouble.

The smart companies will pick the brains of their youngest employees. MTV did that when I was there. Almost every week they would ask me “What would your age group think of this?” or “Is this lame to you?” or questions like that. I remember one instance where somebody two levels above my immediate superior (meaning she’s VP level) came to me and asked my opinion on some new VJ audition tapes.

I’m not trying to be a diva, but it astounds me that there were 140 students at Ad:Tech last week, and almost none of us were approached by execs just to talk.

Let’s put it this way: Every six months new graduates enter the workforce and decide what to buy with their newfound spending power. If you haven’t been communicating to them earlier, what makes you think you can do it now?

ps: While we’re on the topic of Gen Y. I found it weird to receive this as a “thank you” gift from P&G:

I don’t want to seem ungrateful but… Boss for women? I don’t get it. In future, either get “thank you” gifts that can go to either sex, or label your “thank you” gifts appropriately.

Tags: brand spoiler, brands in the hands of consumers, communicate asia, dorothy poon, geek goddess, generation y, media consumption habits, p&G, proctor & gamble, purchase decisions, sheraton tower, the new consumer

5 Comments | Posted in » Gen Y, Marketing

Gen Y Responds When You Don’t Treat Them Like Idiots

Remember my earlier post where OMD treated about 140 students like idiots and thought we didn’t know they were farming for ideas under false pretenses? Well here’s the flip side.

MTV came in after lunch with their execs in regular MTV attire, and gave us a straightforward, no bull$#!t account of what life is in MTV. Talking around with my friends afterwards, the general sentiment that they were the most “genuine” of the three companies that we interacted with that way. No “rehearsed” lines provided by PR or HR, no “dumbing down” because we’re students and they’re execs, and I think that made the difference.

I think the proof showed when many students went up to find out more from the MTV execs after the panel discussion.

I think anyone who was at the earlier panels would know that the crowd largely dissipated once they ended, but people actually had to be ushered out of the room this time. Maybe the “clout” of the MTV brand name is stronger? I don’t know.

Lesson learnt? We may be young, but we know when we’re being treated as proper talent that your company may want to hire, and will respond in kind. Maybe companies want to think “Ahh, undergrads are a dime a dozen, they’ll flock to us anyway. Just show them all the awards we’ve won and credentials we have”. Perhaps that’s true for the masses, but the sensing I get is we want to work with companies we identify with, who recognise that we aren’t a dime a dozen, and we’ll seek out the best companies which treat us as such, and not like we’re a dime a dozen.

(Full disclosure: I served my internship with MTV last week and will be re-joining them on Tuesday on a freelance project. If anything this proves my point because if they truly were faking their panel discussion, why would I go back?)

Tags: Gen Y, idea farming, mtv, mtv asia, mtvasia, omd, omniture, treating students like idiots

No Comments | Posted in » Gen Y

Companies Need To Stop Thinking Gen Y Are Idiots

Yesterday I was at the ad:tech conference Future Generation track (for students) and the second session of the day was with OMD, and it was very… scammy.

First they came and they said “We don’t want to tell you what life in an ad agency is like, we want you to live it”. So they broke the crowd of students into groups, gave them a brief about a brand and in-game advertising and sent them off to brainstorm.

Now, I don’t know what companies think, but we’re not stupid. It was so terribly obvious that they wanted to farm for ideas and were poorly disguising it as “live the exciting life of an ad agency!” It would’ve been fine if they said “So we wanna know what the new consumer - you guys - think about putting ads in games. Here are some of ideas, do you think it’ll work?”. You want a 140 people test-group or the ideas of 140 business and communications students? Just say so. Openly.

The best part of it all? After the students presented their ideas/pitches, OMD said “They were all so brilliant, we want to keep them!” and then proceeded to collect the paper on which the pitches were written.

If that doesn’t smell of theft I don’t know what does.

And we’re supposed to want to work for employers like that?

I don’t think so.

Tags: ad:tech, employers think gen y is stupid, employers think we're stupid, future generation track, idea farming, idea theft, omd, Singapore, stop thinking we're stupid

9 Comments | Posted in » Poor Practices, Singapore

Sometimes “Viral” Comes From Unexpected Places

Everyone wants something “viral” these days. But the thing is you never really know when something is viral and truly will catch on.

Let me say it’s been two days after the HP TouchSmart PC Blogger’s Nite, and the song for the TouchSmart “Do You Wanna Touch?” has still been ringing in my head. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out this 1:29 video.

I’m going to be a little bit candid here. Of all companies, would you have expected one like HP to come up with something this catchy? Melvin blogged about it from Berlin and I hadn’t experienced it first hand and wasn’t convinced how “catchy” or “viral” it was until the blogger’s nite and how everyone is still talking about it:

And Claudia’s post aptly titled “Do You Want To Touch?” (with a nifty video).

I have to say, speaking as a social media blogger, that I give HP Singapore full credit for going all out with their blogger outreach programme. The first time they did it I wasn’t invited, but still gave them some praise, the second time they did it I was a part of it (full disclosure: I work with the PR firm that handles HP’s digital strategy and helped conceptualise and organise the event), and the second time I could really see first hand how the HP execs were willing to engage freely with bloggers. There was no “we are executives in the real world and you are bloggers” mentality.

My blog coverage with many many photos is up over on my personal blog if you’re interested. The one thing I wish could be better was to credit the band that did it, or make it available for download. Tying this in to my thoughts on social media in the local music scene, the right social media/digital tie up could just really make your song take off like wildfire. Do you like the song? Let me know!

Tags: blogger outreach, do you wanna touch, hp touchsmart pc singapore, hpberlin2008, social media, viral, word of mouth

5 Comments | Posted in » Blogs, Fun, Plurk, Singapore, collaboration

More IDC Web2.0 Conference Thoughts: The Multi-Tasking Generation Y

More on the IDC Web2.0 Conference yesterday (attendees aside), there were some great insights that I’d love to talk about.

Prof. Michael brought up a point that I personally identify with. He says sometimes he has a guest in the class room and the guest is talking to the class, but the class is talking to each other via IM (or maybe Twitter), in other words, we’re having multiple levels of conversation.

I hope this is not new to marketers by now. Listen to Sarah from ReadWriteWeb or Ian from MTV. Generation Y is doing this. All the time.

Sarah will tell you they won’t even read this far down a blog post. Ian will tell you we have the computer on talking to 7 friends with MTV in the background and alternate-tabbing between games while stopping once in awhile to sms someone.

And that’s the truth.

Marketers are not going to get our full attention. And they certainly can’t demand it. They’re going to have to fight for it, not by interruption, but with darn compelling content. Does this mean we absorb less if we’re doing five things at the same time? Without empirical proof I’m going to say maybe. But I feel it also makes us aware of more. I can’t walk out of a movie these days without picking up at least one or two brands featured in the show, and more often than not the conversation becomes a “hey did you see that BMW insert?” after the movie.

Speaking as a Gen Y consumer myself, I love it when brands make the effort to connect, and seem like they’re genuine. (not some scammy thing). I’ll talk to you about Sony, about EA Games, about Bluehost and about HP because I know that they’re at least recognising the new presence of the new consumers and trying. They may not be fantastic at it, but it’s better than pretending we don’t exist or are a “fad”. (full disclosure: my office does PR work for HP)

Speaking of listening, I wanted to talk about this yesterday and am further prompted by this comment. Dear Yahoo!, I love that you sponsor stuff like the Web2.0 conference, but Jonathan is right. Does it make sense to sponsor it when people don’t get what you’re about? I love the “social” ymail and I love how it was presented in a non-intrusive way together with the goodie bags. But wouldn’t it be cooler to connect with say, 60 people who are in the space, in the know and can really appreciate what your product is about? Or give them a chance to try it and be bought over?

If you’re willing to listen to a proposition (not for me, but for the local Singaporean blogosphere), let’s start a conversation!

Tags: bluehost, ea games, Gen Y, generation y, hp, ianstewartmtv, IDC web2.0 conference, im, mtv, multi-tasking, multiple levels of conversation, readwriteweb, sarahintampa, social media insights, sony, sponsorship, twitter, yahoo, ymail

4 Comments | Posted in » Blogs, Marketing, collaboration, community, social media

Quick Thought On IDC Web2.0 Conference & Silly Question Asked

Just got back from the IDC Web2.0 Conference today (thanks to Debbie and Joyes for granting me access!) and have some immediate thoughts before I go into detail about the various topics discussed.

Main thought: People need to do more research before coming for these conferences.

I estimate about 200 people in the room, and when the room was asked who used feeds (RSS), less than 30 people raised their hand.

Now I’m not judging, but I think if companies are going to spend $240 to send people for a three hour conference, they need to be able to absorb what is going on and follow the discussions. If only 30 people understand feeds, how many would understand the rest of the topics today? Wikis? Co-creation of content? Social networking? User-generated content? I have my doubts. I think companies owe it to themselves to do a little bit of research before going, so that they can truly engage in the discussion.

The thing is there was some good content at the conference. One speaker mentioned it’s not necessary to be front and centre of the content-creation, just a curator. And I wonder how many people got the reference.

Edit: Maybe next time after a conference I should walk up to people randomly and ask “So what do you think the takeaways are for your business?” and see what answers I get.

Finally, a question was asked towards the end of the day: “Is there research to show that using IM and Facebook increases productivity? And are some professions more suited than others to using social media in education. For example, would it be applicable to medicine?”. A muted groan rippled through the room.

Firstly, obviously there is no research to show that. The people who question the benefits of IM, Twitter and Facebook are those who are not on it or don’t understand it or are suspicious and un-trusting of their employees to be on these applications. Do you think people aren’t using the office phone for non-productive uses? Or the office email? Or the office printer?

The reason why this question comes up, to me, is because companies want to see this instant gratification. Are you using Facebook to generate a sales lead or close a sale? No? Waste of time. But it doesn’t work that way. Facebook, Twitter and IM take time to produce results. I spend a lot of time in the office on Facebook. I joke that it’s “research”, but finding out how people use Facebook and interact is very important. If you don’t know how your consumer is using their tools, how can you ever hope to be relevant?

Will there be employees who abuse this trust and throw sheep or superpoke friends at work? Sure. But I don’t feel that’s a reason to shut down access, because to me, the benefits outweigh the cons. Let’s keep this all in perspective. It’s the people that abuse the tool. Not that there’s anything inherently “wrong” about the tool.

Secondly, what a crazy question! Can the medical profession use social media? Of course! I honestly and truly question why this person was at this conference at all. The whole morning people were talking about interaction and content sharing and co-creation and wikis and transferring ideas and collaboration via Google Docs.

You mean you don’t see how medical knowledge can be pooled together, developed and refined via these tools? Or did you seriously mean doing away with practical surgery sessions and teach it via social media? Which is absolutely ridiculous too.

It is people like that, that are holding social media (and your company) back from advancing. The new consumers are not going to be convinced by an advertisement in the newspaper. If it’s not timely and relevant, forget it. If your business is not showing and interest in discovering how the new consumers think and behave, you might not be around in 10 years when they graduate and choose to spend their disposable income with a company who does.

Tags: close sales, co-creation of content, curator of content, facebook, facebook and productivity, facebook at work, feedburner, feeds, generate sales lead, generation y, google reader, grand copthorne waterfront, IDC web2.0 conference, new consumer, rss, Singapore, social media conference, social media singapore, social networking, twitter, user generated content, wikis

10 Comments | Posted in » Singapore, Wikipedia, social media

Social Media For The Local Music Scene

I’m writing this with Singapore in mind, but I think it could work anywhere.

Rubin and I had a discussion tonight about bands in Singapore, whether they’re talented or not, whether they could make money or not, etc etc. Towards the end of the night I needed to blog and turned to him for inspiration and he said “write about the local music scene”. Brilliant.

So here’s social media for the local music scene.

1) Get repeat plays.
One of the podcasts I listen to mentioned recently that in the music industry, frequency is your currency. So you get people to play it as many times as you can. Give it away free to everyone on MySpace, give it free to the polytechnic radio stations, give it free to the university Campus Radio stations. It doesn’t matter if you’re making money out of it at this stage, just give it free.

I can’t say how many times I haven’t liked a song on first listen, but it grows on me after three or more listens. I’m sure it’s the same for many other people.

2) Pimp yourself.
In a lot of ways, the local music scene is like the local blogosphere. There’s a lot of crap in there, but there are gems too. So how do you get people to notice you? Make yourself searchable. That means pimping up your website, going on MySpace, maybe creating a fan page on Facebook, whatever works. When someone hears your band name and goes home to search for you, you’d better turn up on page one of Google.

Case in point: Origami. I think that’s how it’s spelled because I was only walking past, but I liked their rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent, so much so I wanted to get in contact with them and offer to try to get their track on Campus Radio. So I come home, Google Origami and zilch. How do I help you get your music out there when I can’t find you? Do yourself a favour. If your band name is called Hystericks Stickz, change your name to something Google-able. That advice is free.

3) Get help.
No, don’t get someone to buy you a $30k ad on national radio. There are free (or at least cheap) ways to go about doing it. There are many, many polytechnic or university students out there who would probably be willing to help put your name out there or build you a blog, or pass your cd on to three friends. What could you offer them in return? Well that’s up to you. But remember: your most loyal customers are also your best.

Finally, a disclaimer: All this only works if your music doesn’t suck. As with everything else, content is king. If the content you’re producing sounds like screeching and/or cawing, no amount of publicity is going to help you.

So, now that you know all that. You want a social media/digital strategist to help your band out? Start a conversation with me. Here, Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, whatever works for you.

Tags: blogosphere, campus radio singapore, facebook, Google, myspace, origami, pimp yourself, Plurk, self-publicity, singapore local music, singapore's local music scent, smu campus radio, twitter

5 Comments | Posted in » Google, Search, Singapore, Social Networks, collaboration, community, mainstream media, social media, twitter

Singapore’s Most Visited Website Is Now Google

About four months ago I posted the Top 100 Websites in Singapore as reported by Alexa. Just earlier in the week at work I happened to check out the site again, and interestingly Google.com.sg has now taken over with Yahoo.com in second place. Main Google is at #7, localised yahoo.com.sg nowhere to be seen.

Two observations and a question:

1) Since Google has two spots in the top 10 list, they’re obviously beating the crap out of Yahoo, which should make Google very happy indeed and companies should know where to advertise now.

2) Localised Google (ie the .sg version) is right at the top, suggesting the increased preference for localised search.

Which brings me to the first question: Why isn’t Rednano on the list at all? I’m almost definitely sure that it provides better search results than Google when it comes to localised search, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be used. Anyone want to shed some light?

And the second: What changed in two months?

Tags: alexa data, Google, google.com.sg, paid search, rednano, Search, top 100 websites in singapore, yahoo, yahoo and google

10 Comments | Posted in » Google, Search, Singapore

Word Of Mouth Manual & Feedly

Haven’t done this in awhile, but I really wanted to direct you to two resources which I found to be extremely valuable just yesterday.

Word Of Mouth Manual II
Dave Balter who co-authored Grapevine (which I remember reading two years ago) has a new book out called the Word Of Mouth Manual Volume II. Since focusing more and more on social media, I had actually thought in recent weeks about re-visiting the book and seeing what is still relevant today. I first came across the link from Mitch Joel and I don’t want to copy and paste the URL here because it’s a unique URL (excellent for measurement), so head on there if you want to download the book for FREE! (otherwise it costs you $45 on Amazon).

Also, the way the news got out was great, targeting a few key influencers online like John Moore from Brand Autopsy, John Bell from the Digital Influence Mapping Project, Todd Defren at PR Squared and of course Seth Godin among others. Given that these posts appeared in my feeds alone, I’m sure spread out over the targeted blogs, many more people interested in communication and word of mouth would have come across it as well. And appearing numerous times in numerous blogs also sends a strong signal: These many people have found it worth their time, it’s probably worth yours too.

Feedly
As always, Louis Gray brings the best in all things feed-related. I’m not going to just scrape the details from his blog because his write-up is so thorough, there’s probably nothing more I can do but to help spread the word by directing you to his coverage. I’ve just installed Feedly and am finding it a lot to get used to, but I can see certain elements I like.

Tags: brand autopsy, bzzagent, dave balter, digital influence mapping project, feedly, grapevine, john bell, john moore, louis gray, mitch joel, pr squared, seth godin, todd defren, word of mouth manual

No Comments | Posted in » Blogs, Marketing, collaboration, social media