Getting from 0 to 1000.

@paddytan was asking me today, now that everyone is jumping on twitter, has blogging dip in trend? Well, the conversation has prompted me to write this posting.

Twitter celebrated its 3rd Birthday last weekend and I also celebrated my 1000th follower on the same day. 1000 follower may seem like no big deal to many Twitter-celeb (even a cat @sockington has 200,000 followers!) But the journey from 0 to 1000 could potentially be the hardest learning curve for any tweep or aspiring tweeter.

How can you, without using a get followers scheme, not a celebrity, not a big shot in some top MNC make your voice heard as you build a strong and faithful following. And here are the open secrets I want to share with you today.

5 TIPS TO GET FROM 0 to 1000

1. Decide your motivation and objective
   All of us have different reasons why we tweet. Some are for fun, just to keep up with friends while others may have career or business motivations and agenda. I started tweeting for fun. But that lasted only 2 days and I gave up. I left the account to rot for one year before deciding to explore again. And this time, I saw the potential. I started with only 8 followers. It took me approximately 8-9 weeks to reach where I am today.
   
   
   Questions to ask yourself
   
   
   
   • Why am I joining Twitter?
     
     
   • Was it simply to make more random friends?
     
     
   • Or do I have a targeted industry I would like to meet people from?
   
   
   • To build and establish my social media currency?
     
     
   • To build an online credential that could possibly spill over to real life?
     
     
   • Build stronger customer relationships?
     
     
   • Etc
   
   For me, my motivation is direct and focused. To know more people in the marketing, advertising and digital field. To be able to converse directly with these people, and establish my online reputation and social media currency in the longer term. Sharing on Twitter also allows me to hone my skills in a bigger way as I voice my opinions openly on random issues.
   
   
2. Be sincere, be honest and don't try to hard sell
   Twitter is a sphere where relationships take time to build. (actually, all strong relationships take time to build) You have to prove that you are a valuable connection and people can benefit from following you, vice versa. Here are some ways to get you started.
   
   
• Don't try to be someone you are not. When you do, the entire Twitterverse knows it. There are too many wise and intelligent people out there. So don't try to look smart. Just be true to yourself and your heart. Be sincere and really have a desire to connect. (This point was added in after being reminded to re-emphasis it when I read @smashadv's comments on this posting. He's one great friend I've got to know on Twitter.)
  
  
• Follow BIG names like @guykawasaki. He's a really nice guy and although he seldom replies, he does when you say something smart or useful. You could get a pretty extensive list at Twitter Counter or WeFollow.com.
  
  
• Start conversations with tweeps you follow. Don't keep quiet, make some noise. When I mean noise, I'm not saying you should make a fool of yourself. By starting a conversation (it could be a question or a poll or in response to their tweets), people get a chance to be associated with you and will be more incline to following you as well.
  
  
• Retweets. Retweeting is an extremely effective way to fill your timelines with contents and get noticed. However, pick tweets that are in relation to your targeted demographics. When people find your information handy and interesting, they will naturally find a reason to start listening.
  
  
• Never. And I mean NEVER attempt to use auto-DMs. Be personalised, be a face to a name. If you try to promote before you build that human touch, you are doomed to fail.
  
  
• Forward interesting and new contents. Original contents are as important as duplicated ones. As much as people appreciate it that you are RTing, you would realise after some time, everyone is connected with everyone else. Hence we are all reading the same thing. Take some time to browse your frequent blogs and browse around, or even write something and send it to people. Create discussions on topics and share your views if you agree or don't agree to something and why.
  
  
3. Invest Time and a Listening Ear
   Twitter is a tool where the most ancient art of conversational skills is being tested again. And this is the art of listening. There are hundreds and thousands of conversations and monologues going on at the same time. The greatest challenge in order to fully engage yourself in those conversations, is really just listening.
   
   
   • Spend at least 15 minutes of your time everyday just plain listening. Read what others have to say. See what is the talking point today.
   
   @robin_low congratulated me on reaching my 1000th follower as he said, "But you really tweet alot." Well, I try to. Although you may find me disappearing in a certain fashion when work starts filling my desk.
   


• Try to tweet daily. The best hours are US and London time, that is the time zone where most tweeps are online. Although I really have problems staying awake during that period nowadays. I make about 40 tweets a day on the average. You can get an analysis of your engagement here.
  
  
4. Paying it Forward
   Render your help and recommend others and you will soon realise others will do the same for you. Twitter is a beautiful place to be in because no one on it has any bad intentions. The virtue of reciprocity and paying it forward is truly evident here because that is one of the strategies to make yourself heard and valued.
   


• The rules of success with Twitter is simple. You will realise that the more you give, the more you get in return. And the ratio of your returns will always be higher than your giving.
  
  
• Every friday is #followfriday. One of my favourite days when I can get up to 100 followers and know how many people actually values my addition. #followfriday is a really cool initiative by tweeps who takes the lead in recommending other good tweeps to follow. It's a friends introduce friends scheme that opens your doors to all these wonderful people with a wealth of knowledge you would love to tap on.
  
  
• In return, you can recommend interesting people to follow simply by writing a tweet like this, "Great folks to follow! #followfriday @belindaang @unmarketing @lucasblack @David_Feng @robin_low @cheth..." And the list goes on till you reach 140 words.
  
  
5. Personal Branding for Twitter
   I would strongly suggest you pick a twitter id that is either your name or a witty handle to remember. More often than not, people will choose to use the same title as their blogs, facebook profiles or website.
   
   
• Plan your digital footprints in such a way that makes it easy for people to recognise and locate you across all platforms.
  
  
• Use a consistent avatar with a great smile of yourself or put on a digital effect that people will remember you about. And not the "standard msn messenger flowers, soccer balls or horses". Make it a YOU.
  
  


• Create and Design a Twitter background that will load nicely on all popular screen resolutions. Make sure the background contains all the contact information you would want people to find you in. If you really have a problem with this, drop me a tweet @belindaang, I would be happy to assist.
  
  
• If your intention to tweet is professional, do maintain that image throughout all your branding attempts.

These 5 steps are not your typical "quick money making guide" or "20,000 in one month!" gimmick. These are hard and solid rules to building an effective online relationship. Since then, my blog readership has doubled (and 10x in some cases especially during my timely post for the Great Gmail Crash). @jeffoliver decided I was a good case study on effective personal online marketing without a monsterous CV, that he made an analysis of all my social networks to his students. I managed to get noticed enough to earn myself a small little report on Lianhe Zaobao. And I don't see this is the end of all the wonderful things that are going to happen. I had made some hard and fast friends on Twitter and I am confident you will reap some really great rewards too.

Have fun on your journey from 0 to 1000. =)

Welcome, the real era of Social Media Marketing

I have been spending quite some quality time on twitter and reading useful blogs of others. As I am writing, I am still continuously trying to figure out what may be the correct focus to direct this post.

Social media has always been a very skeptical form of marketing for alot of traditional marketeers as there is no clear ROI or statistics which can be provided as a base for business. Especially in the context of Asia, where almost everything must be "seen" or "touch" to "believe". However, this may all change with evolution of statistical tools on individual social networking platforms and most of all, the recent launch of Buzz Gain. If you need to get excited over something, then this must be it!

Currently in Beta stage (Free for limited period), Buzz Gain is a really simple web-based client that allows you to track over 100 social networking sites and search your keyword on blogs, microblogs etc. This allows a complete consolidation of data, including listening to all the important conversations about your product or business all in one site. Learn about who you should be tracking or following. And at the click of a button, analyze your demographics as graphs are created automatically to explain trends! Now you know WHO is looking and talking about you, WHO you should be talking to and WHAT are the results or outcome of the conversations. Finally a one-stop and affordable solution to all Social PR headaches.

Although I wouldn't say the program is perfect just yet. Afterall, it is still in beta launch. One of the biggest turnoff is its speed. The program would have been close to a wonder if it loaded up nicely and promptly too. The beta version may be showing signs of lagging and delayed information. More insights of analysis and information can also be developed, hopefully at a later point of time. But at the very least, if you have no idea where start on your social PR, now here's a useful assistant.

The service would probably have very large potential in Asia also, especially in China. With latest stats by Internet World Stats, China's internet population leads the world with approximately 253 million internet users end December 2008. And we are looking at a merely 19% penetration of its entire billion population. Imagine how much this service could potentially do for clients wanting to enter the dragon's gate? There are over 578 million internet users in Asia alone (versus 885 million in the rest of the world), where rising markets like India only has a 5.2% internet penetration currently. (Statistics are quoted from Internet World Stats) With the consumer market so saturated in Europe and America, brands and businesses are quick eyeing on the big piece of cake in the less-than developed far east.

However, Asia's consumer behavior and internet trends may differ with those from the West, with their own specialised and isolated platforms (such as qq.com in China). And these are usually quite contained within their own communities. Hence services such as BuzzGain will need to obtain a better and more thorough understanding of the system to efficiently get it right. Even as a fellow Chinese, I'm finding it tough to keep up with the lighting speed trends of the China market. Their growth is tremendous and they are quick in developing tools that match those of the West. Moreover, the web structure in the east is not as organized and there are alot of "noise" to filter before actual contents and conversations can be read and analyzed. Hence adequate time will need to be invested to study the market in detail.

In the meantime, I would like to give a pat on the shoulder of the BuzzGain team. If you haven't signed up for a demo, do so today. You'd be pleasantly surprised at the convenience it provides. And if you have a word to say to BuzzGain, feedback on how you think it could help you better, or just thank them for the wonderful innovation, give a BUZZ to @mukund on twitter. The fine man will be more than pleased to hear from you.

Digital Presence

I had some time on my hands over the weekend to devote to my digital presence. And so I updated my linkedin, contributed to twitter religiously, finally updated myspace too (which I haven't done so for maybe years?) and I would say the results has been quite satisfactory for me in a mere 3 days.

Firstly, I doubled my twitter followers (which isn't alot but I would say are quality connections), did up a background for my twitter page so people can locate me easily. The active responses I post also mean I get to absorb alot more wealth of information as the tweets are updated almost every minute. Hence every minute I'm learning something new about the industry or in another part of the world.

Secondly, I decide to post the question on a possible internship with marketing experts over Linkedin. And I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality offers I manage to get. Although I don't have an abundance of replies but I have gathered enough offers to last me for the entire year if not two. Opportunities to take a few weeks off work to explore internship in Abu Dhabi, Poland, New York, Sydney etc are indeed very attractive. The next challenge is now trying to arrange my schedule at work to make it happen. Perhaps this could potentially spark off a new practice in the industry where frequent exchange as such may lead to an overall upgrade in the quality of marketing professionals. Afterall, exposure is extremely important in our line of job. However, employers may have to be alot more open-minded to the idea of this practice and that sharing does not mean divulging confidential information.

Finally, perhaps the major challenge I find that has to be tackled is actually blogging. It's extremely easy to blabble on and on without a focus for contents. But it is an art to be able to find an attractive angle and offering fresh and not recycled contents to readers. Fresh perspectives are usually the main attraction for returning visitors. But I have to admit it is easier said than done. As I'm honing my skills in convincing you, I hope you'll be patient and hang in there.

Bridging blogs & advertisers.

Consumers used to be only on the receiving end, taking in whatever information advertisers wants to let out. But online media has opened a new path that allows consumers to be the source of information, to judge and decide what to say. We call this people, bloggers.

I stumbled upon http://blog2u.sg/ today, and out of interest, signed up as a member. However, I am rather skeptical about the system that goes in there. I would say there's both sides of the coin to this portal. What it does, is that it links bloggers and advertisers together. The advertiser will have to pay (in monetary of course) to put a banner ad, a sponsored post or a sponsored review on the blogger's site. It can also come in the form of an invitation to a product launch, event or link to partner's sites etc.

Somehow, I'm just thinking, is this the best and most appropriate method to execute social PR? The primary objective of reaching target audience through social PR is to bypass advertising. But isn't "banner ad" or a "sponsored post", simply just advertising end of the day? And "paying" someone to write something simply won't give you an honest posting. Hence, that defies the evolution of social media and its realiability in the long term.

PR is all about building relationships. The relationship should be transparent, honest and sincere. When identifying suitable bloggers to talk about a product, we should first be sure that these are trustworthy people who are not simply living off posted advertisements. And who are the people reading the blogs? Does the product simply want mass awareness? Or targeted awareness? We should remember that no one medium can reach out to everyone. This is especially evident on the internet, where freedom of choice rules the cyberworld. Hence, we should take into consideration power of multiplication. Is this target group we have chosen the best people to spread the word? How many tiers can it lead to? Which is more effective? Selling the technical specification of a product/event or selling the experience of a product/event?

I think http://blog2u.sg/ will be useful for many direct advertisers, who wish to save the dollars from a good digital PR agency. But I would still suggest, the internet has a long memory. Campaigns and good word can go a long way if the appropriate method is being explored by professionals. A hundred thousand dollars is money well-spent if objectives are met. But a dollar spent could be a dollar too much if it does not work at all.

Of course, I am not indicating that this site does not work. It probably does to a certain extend. Most of those bloggers link their posts to twitter and facebook and plurk etc. So there's still some form of extension there. However, do also remember it's probably the same people, the same links on all these different platforms.

Ask around your office, how many people (who are non-avid bloggers) uses twitter and plurk? Or even digsby? As far as I am concern, I only know of one other person who does apart from me.

Who's reading?

There'll always be a neverending debate on who's reading what on the internet. Tell a client to use twitter as a marketing tool and they will response with a bang on the table as they give their money to a newspaper instead. True, it is hard to determine the returns, the risks and you can't really control your demographics. But for goodness sake, I wonder who invented technology, it is capable of anything.

Found this blog from Guy Kawasaki's tweets. The Brand Builder, written by Olivier Blanchard. It's enjoyable to realise the wealth of knowledge one can find from these folks if you really take time to read them.

There's a new article on social media stats and demos for 2008. It's interesting to see who ranks the top 40 tweetcities in the world and at what a rate this tool is growing intensively. I can't find Singapore on the list though, for plenty of reasons. One, we have a population too small, two we don't exactly have a tweeting population. We are just too small for comfort.

Digital marketing is not likely to take off in Singapore or Hong Kong in a big way because people are sitting too close to each other. There are many modes of communications and traditional media still ranks the most popular way to reach out to target audience. Well, I have to admit even for me, I still read newspapers and watch the TV. Digital marketing takes up only 3% of the total media spending in 2007. Where about 1.6million people are online everyday on this island. The newspaper only circulates about 250,000. So that doesn't really reaches a population of 4 million, does it. (Please refer to digital media report in my earlier posts). However, due to managable distance from home to town, people usually stay out instead of staying in. Hence outdoor media is the one channel that has been growing increasing popular in the past few years. More creative means are being explored from billboards to installations. Government rules have laxed to allow more room for advertising on public property.

However, that also means trying to get attention becomes harder. Many a times, marketeers tend to be successful in executing the "eye-catching" element but may not necesarily be achieving the objective on the movement, whatever that may be. Of course, clients should be realistic about the targets and how will the marketing effort translate into it. No matter it's sales or awareness. As I am religiously repeating, pick the right channels to the right people.

More social marketing tips in the mid of recession?

This talk about marketing in recession seems to be going on forever since the credit crunch began in Europe. There are more and more marketeers discussing the topic and suggesting ways to keep business viable and marketing dollars make more sense in these hard times.

Perhaps sometimes, downturns are a good thing as it forces us to think harder, put in more effort and accept higher challenges. When times are good, all of us just turns into couch potatoes. So there is always both sides of the coin to every situation. Even when everything just seem bad.

Anyway, I'm here today to share Harry's latest whitepaper on the Positive Side of Recession with you. There is always a way out of every sticky situation. It isn't the first time in the history of mankind that we are dealt with such financial crisis. Hence, there will always be a solution to every problem. Whether or not you decide to venture in social media, or decide to stick with traditional advertising, or simply spend more time on creating your brand value, or cut your costs and lie low, everyone may have a different solution. Choose the one that works best for you, there isn't just one solution.

Download the Positive SIde of Recession Here

Recession & Marketing (Part III)

Reposted from : http://www.octanecorp.com/blog/tabid/249/EntryID/377/Default.aspx by Brandon

Social Media’s role in the tanking Economy

It’s hard to turn on a computer, much less a television, without being inundated with messages about the gloom and doom of our current economic nightmare. But what does that mean for the Marketing world? One thing seems clear to me – now is NOT the time to crawl in a hole and scale back on Marketing. To the contrary - we know from history that most companies will slash the Advertising and Marketing budgets that could turn the situation around and keep them alive. Like a sea captain caught in a storm, the best chance of saving the ship is to turn directly into the waves. Sure, the ride will be rough, but it’s the best strategy for survival.

Social Media and Social Network Marketing in particular has a role to play in navigating the troubled waters ahead. Think about it – people will continue to communicate socially online, regardless of how much the Dow plummets. Consumers might not have as much money to go out to dinner or take a vacation, but you can bet that they will spend as much or more time checking their Facebook profiles, surfing YouTube, checking out new bands on MySpace, or engaging in gaming and other applications on mobile devices. So, this begs the question – why pull back now? Isn’t this the time to put even MORE emphasis on Social Media? Wouldn’t NOW be the time to show customers that you care about them and you empathize with their struggles? Wouldn’t it be great to have positive messages about your company spreading in the midst of all the negative stuff that is spreading out there?

Going back to the fundamentals of Social Media – ask yourself what added value you can provide. Is competitive pricing an option? How about a contest where people have a chance to win something cool while helping others that are struggling in the process? Can your company give a little more to charitable causes that help those most in need during rough economic times? Remember, when times are tough, charitable organizations take a big hit, while being called upon more than ever to provide services to those in need. If you can champion one of these causes and share this enthusiasm with your online communities, you will have gone a long way toward building goodwill and positive associations that will affect the balance sheet for years to come.

Remember, the volume of messaging will almost certainly slow down as companies scale back on ad budgets. Seize this opportunity to double down on your Social Media efforts, or if you haven’t yet embraced it, there’s no better time than right now to get in the game! Show your customers and potential customers that you understand the challenges they face. They will remember your goodwill when their situation improves, and chances are they will have told a few people along the way.

Blogs is not a social media strategy!

Harry dropped me an email in linkedin. He says I'm going to like this. And yes I do! It's his latest white paper on corporate blogging. I've always had problems convincing my companies to start some form of social network. Whether for commercial or team bonding purposes. And a lot of companies attempt to explore blogging (or exploit blogger) for short term gains. Social Media Strategy is a long term strategy that will require meticulous thinking and planning. Not everyone and every business is suitable for it. But the wrong ones keep coming on and those who are suppose to start talking on the web is hesitant. So enough said from a baby marketeer like me. Let's hear what Harry wants to say now.

DOWNLOAD HARRY'S WHITE PAPER HERE

Giving before taking.

Linkedin is a very powerful social network that has connected like-minded marketeers together. Through its connections, I am delighted to get to know a few experienced players who are not stingy with their advices and mentorship.

Mr. Harry Hallman is a marketeer with more than 30 years experience and actively answers marketing questions on blogs and writes white papers. You can read all about it on http://www.marcomgeek.com/. How has this made him even more successful than ever? Being a digital expert, by utilizing his strength and providing education materials to the mass in understanding his craft, he has demostrated his expertise in this area without the attempt to even sell his abilities. Most marketeers from big brands surf the web frequently in search of feedbacks on their products and market trends. It is not hard to stumble upon the advices of someone as such and be convinced that he knows what he is doing.

Like by adding his name to this blog entry, I have created another potential exposure for him. And it is a word-of-mouth marketing that he had built up for himself quite effectively. Every client has the same question in their mind. Creative ideas can come from anyone, but WHO can execute it effectively to meet their business needs. Usually, they are concern about the team behind it, leading it and making it into live.

By dedicating time to educate and give, you have then given yourself an additional opportunity to new business. End of the day, our moral education has also taught us we get the most out of giving, this goes the same in the business world. Create that relation and relevance with your customers and they will come running to you for help. That is the rule of Web 2.0. Education is the new marketing.

Add me on Linkedin.