The text below are the original replies from my interview with MyPaper. As I think some of the points that are being covered may be useful to some readers, hence I’ve uploaded the original text herein for your reference. Will be translating an English version shortly for the reading pleasure of the larger community. Cheers!

以下是接受《我报》采访时所提供的原文。因为觉得其中有一些内容对于某些读者或许会有所用处于是便全文上载于此供诸位分享。

问：许多新加坡企业都在Facebook和Twitter上，但他们不宜顶了解如何测量其有效性或者如何正确地管理这些账户。您对此有何见解？

答：我首要问这些企业的问题是，“你们为何选择上Facebook或Twitter?”许多企业在踊跃响应社群媒体风潮的号召时都未先设立商业意向或可持续性发展战略。这往往都是注定失败的前兆。若你不先设定目的地，你又怎么会知道应往哪个方向前进呢？社群媒体虽然对大多数企业来说都是一个不错的平台，但是Facebook或Twitter并非是最适合你公司或品牌的最佳平台。在莽撞地投入社群媒体之前，企业都应先采取一些基本的数码景观分析 (digital landscape analysis)，制定一套包括了商业意向的营销方案，列出一些意图达成的关键绩效指标才开始进行执行。

问：为什么评估有效性和投资回报率对于在社群媒体上的企业如此重要？

答：基本上，效用与回报率对于任何商业的投资都是重要的评估指标。社群媒体自然也不例外。若企业已经决定要将人力物力投资在这个领域上，那么无论投资的大小，便自然需要相当的回报才能取得利益上的平衡。

问：一间公司应如何评估自己的社群媒体投资回报率？您是否可以针对Facebook和Twitter对此给于更深入的解释？

答：我认为回报必须分为短期和长期来设定。社群媒体真正有价值的并非在于直销，而更多的是在建立与扩展品牌资产上。但是我们必须从短期的观察去不断调整策略才能取得长期的回报。 短期的关键绩效指标可能包括：消费者心理分析 (consumer sentiments)、流量(traffic)、曝光率(impressions)、所获报道(earned coverage)、外来连接(back-links)、跟随者或粉丝数量的增长(increase in followers or fans)、潜在顾客开发流程(lead generation) 等。 长期投资回报率则可以从：品牌资产、销售、整体消费者心理的增长、竞争对手的分析等方面去断定策略的成功与否。企业可在总体的营销时间表上加入以社群媒体所执行的各项活动，讨论的话题或重要事项然后再与同期的销售成绩作个对照，从而了解如何取得真正的有效性。 Facebook在本地来说目前是最受欢迎的社群平台。建立了Fan Page之后，所有的管理员都可以检查由Facebook所提供的Insights。当中会提供你一些基本资料，比如每日的粉丝增长率，媒体资源下载率，地里统计等。它可提供你一些有用的数据，帮助你监察与调整策略的持续性。 而Twitter来说，培养高质量的跟随者相当重要。你的直接影响力，间接影响力与发言的曝光率将是主宰效用的重要指标。 但是无论如何，在社群媒体上最珍贵的并非数据。许多企业都埋头于利用数据统计来决定社群媒体的有效率。其实那不是最准确的。社群媒体更应立志的是将每个消费者都培养成自己的品牌代言人。于是有品质的会话，有影响力的拥护者，积极乐观的消费者心理才是社群媒体真正的魅力。

问：你可以提出3 – 5项企业在探索社群媒体的途中常见的失误吗？

答：

I was touring CommunicAsia together with @skribe and managed to meet up with a few new found friends from Twitter, some who are exhibiting at this grand annual information technology event. We were caught by @stsanto from Getit Comms, who invited us for an interview with @B2Bento, to share some of our take on social media and marketing on virtual worlds. Here are the full recording of our interviews.

Hello my friends, the following article was written for the Chinese papers in Singapore but was never published due to sensitivity in comparison between traditional and digital media. Hence I am posting it herein for your reference. Will try to translate an English copy soon for the greater audience.

Thanks!

数字媒体的侵略 (September 19, 2009)

许多品牌和商家在经济不景的2009年都纷纷缩紧荷包，减少广告和营销开支。为了迎合消费市场，各家使出了浑身解数，在有限的资源下舒展预算。而其中，把部分营销转移至网络线上成为了普遍的策略。

利用线上平台直接与消费者进行交流不仅省下了透过传统媒体传达信息的广告费用，且能够为品牌树立更亲民的形象定位。在今年初的一项调查显示，24%的新加坡人表示拥有网络存在性的品牌能够“显著地引起他们的兴趣”。

无论是网络广告、数字公关、线上活动等，在费用与持续性上相对之下都比传统管道来得经济一些。亚洲拥有全球41%的网络用户，而本地的宽带网渗透率更超越了102%。在所有本地用户当中，就有74%积极参与社交网络(social network)的交流。是属于全球百分点最高之一的城市。在这种种趋势的推动下，不难理解品牌和商家们为何提高了网上的活动范围而渐渐将视野分散至数字媒体(digital media)。

《宝洁 – 护舒宝》(P&G Whisper) 近来就利用了Facebook社区在本地首次展开数字运动(digital movement)，鼓励妇女以正面态度看待生理变化和月经这个羞涩的课题。连同为此运动特别设计的迷你网站(http://www.happyitshere.com)，以可爱的插画和轻松的语调，《护舒宝》成功地在一个月之内团结了超过3,000名妇女参与这个社群。此频道大受妇女欢迎，许多人都乐意大方地，毫无忌讳地公开讨论生理状态和经历。这有效地建立了一个妇女们能够寻找共鸣和强系的群体。从短期的分析来看，在全无产品促销与个人利益的推使下，这在本地可以算是相当成功的例子。但是单凭持续对话的这样一个方式是否能够长期引起消费者的兴趣就不晓而知了。或许在强调真实性和诚意的当儿，品牌依然不得以而必须考虑到消费者利益和关注的事项。在整个运动的伸展计划上需要持续的努力和不断植入更多的新元素。

近期也在探索Facebook的企业更包括了《职总平价合作社》(http://www.facebook.com/thatsmyfairprice)。据报道了解，他们在短短3小时内就聚集了超过1,000名粉丝的加入。唯一不同的是，他们积极地利用这个平台进行线上比赛和促销活动。《职总平价合作社》是本地家喻户晓的商家，而目前为止在Facebook上的新加坡用户已超过110万人次。选择大力运用社交网络促进与消费群的关系，并且加强商标信誉是最适当不过了。但是，许多企业都轻视了长远计划和持续性。通常都交由广告、公关或整合营销公司处理，但这只能是短暂之计。品牌和商家必须意识到数字策略应是一项内部政策。需要专门人士的照料才能够在一段延长的时间得到预期的成绩。

另外一间颇有远见的机构便是《星和电信》(Starhub Mobile)。在3间电信公司当中，只有《星和》勇于冒险跳上Twitter(@StarhubCares)这项微博(micro-blogging)服务。他们利用这平台与消费族群建立深远的关系，并同时为公司增添了多一条顾客关系管理频道(customer relationship management channel)。这允许他们在第一时间对于顾客的负面反馈做出直接的回应。也很有可能在长期内减少了危机处理所需的时间和柜台职员的负担。在某种程度上甚至能够为公司减少资源上的开支。但是根据经济报章，The Business Times近期关于Twitter的报道，《第一通信》(MobileOne)似乎对此平台仍心有余悸，目前正在观望状态。除了电信公司以外，有一些其它的企业非常适合运用类似Twitter这种微博平台与顾客直接对话。这包括了零售银行业，旅游业，科技产品等。只是目前还未发现有哪间本地银行愿意做出这样的尝试。

除了以上例子，还有一间值得一提的机构就是《HP惠普公司》。数字媒体在HP并不是一项短期营销手段而是完整地融入在他们的环球商业战略中，成为重要的公关策略之一。HP的每一条产品零售线都拥有自己专署的网络社交平台。各个产品线独自建立有用的线上人脉，透过这些直接管道收集民调，与消费者进行紧密的交流，在产品或营销运动推行时便能够事半功倍，有效地吸引影响者(influencer)的关注并且间接利用口碑行销(word-of-mouth marketing)手段将信息传播开来。其中，《HP改变世界》的企业社会责任(Corporate Social Responsibility)推广活动 是最突出的例子之一。HP展示了整个团体上下对于数字媒体拥有共同认识的重要性。介入社交网络，在数字空间占有一席之地并不是营销部门或公关部门单独承担的责任，而是全体同仁应有的共同努力和意识。

参与种种网络社区的交流，在我看来绝对是利多与弊。我们亚洲社会的商业文化相对较为保守，对许多新茂的科技与手段都更为谨慎。这并没有什么不好的。但当世界因为网络社群变得更整合，消费者的需要越来越高，企业必须不断地以光速求新求变才可能符合这新新人类的苛求。

数字媒体绝对不是一种潮流趋向。我们的日常生活和工作环境早已经和网络世界融为一体。所谓的现实与虚拟不再是两个空间，而是同时平行前进的一个大世界。但是更重要的是，企业必须要了解到无论是哪一个平台，无论是用什么方式，都必须是一个整合战略。根本无须分歧传统媒体和数字媒体的优异。因为这一个大环境里，需要双方的相辅相成才能够有效地将主要信息和项目宗旨进行到底。应从各角度去了解传播信息，而非过于重视一方而忽视了另一个平台的重要性。

回到根本，无论是什么管道，无论世界如何进化，人与人之间需要的是更多细心聆听和真诚对话。而社交网络提供给我们的恰好只是这回到人类基本的平台。

每一个正在蓬勃发展的机构都应将数字战略列入企划考量当中。这不再是短期减少部分营销开支的课题。这种环球趋势将会延续下去。若你不参与，你将会险遭淘汰。

[此文章仅代表作者个人的观点而非所任职机构。]

My virgin marketing article on Lianhe Zaobao, zbWeekly on 3 May 2009. In case you hadn’t seen the ad prior to reading this article, you can view it on youtube. The article gives an overview on the success and failure of this campaign attempt. I have translated a copy in English for your reading pleasure.

I believe everyone has already seen the ad, “The Funeral”, which was greatly hyped recently. The first time I saw it was on Facebook. When it touched on the words, “In the end… it’s these small things that you remember. Little imperfections, that make them perfect.” tears filled my eyes with warmth in my heart and a smile on my face.

The effectiveness of a creative ad.

It is rather rare for Singapore to produce an ad of such technical visual quality and rich content. It is indeed even harder to find one that is able to touch the hearts of the general audience in a short 3 minutes clip. MCYS seem to have gained approval and positive critics again after its success with “Family”. But is creative success a true sucess?

It is a very successful advertisement to a certain extend. Creatives of such is an unprecedented attempt in Singapore. Tapping on topics of taboo and controversy has always been the killer strategy for “buzz marketing”. And using themes to do with death is one of the 6 main strategies as suggested by Mark Hughes in his best seller marketing book, BuzzMarketing. The other strategies include “the unusual, the outrageous, the hilarious, the remarkable & the secrets“.

You can easily locate about 137 blog entries if you do a simple search for the topic on Google Blogger. The contest that “The Funeral” organised on Facebook also attracted many fans participation. Everyone uploaded photos with their loved ones accompanied with proclaims of love. This ad has also become the talking point at the dinner table.

Will the young compromise with an imperfect partner?

Those whom were the most influenced (or should I say most active in commentary) are the younger audience, aged between 16 to 30. But when the ad has passed and forgotten, will this fickle-minded group give up the pursue for perfection and compromise with the reality of imperfection? That might not be the case.

Although both “Family” and “The Funeral” has received much positive feedback, but it cannot exist as a holistic marketing strategy on its own. Actually, the theme of “Beautifully Imperfect” has much room for further development. Upon capturing the attention and becoming a public topic, MCYS should further on the theme, thread it together and strengthen through-the-line marketing efforts, to effectively imprint the key messaging into hearts of the single men and women. The slogan should also be more outstanding so to establish it as a top-of-mind recall. And hopefully people will cease to indulge in a Hollywood-style fairytale when making the considerations for a lifelong partner.

Agency did not make the best of it

Through the website of the family campaign, thinkfamily.sg, which is also the URL shown towards the end of the ad. It is easy to observe that the key messaging and concept design was not carried through. The blog and forum topics in the website are also not directly related to the campaign, as though it was not meant to be built on the same communications frequency. Also, I have yet to see any spin-offs from the current TV ad.

If not dealt with care, this successful million-dollar ad could risk to become yet another trending topic to be forgotten in time. A set of complete and successful marketing strategy should strike the iron while it’s hot and repeatedly enhance the key message so it will grow to find a common ground with the people. To achieve maximum results, the following tv ads should also be edited into a shorter version for people to remember it vividly. Just like the ”Stop at 2″ birth control campaign the government executed in the 70s. Although the overly successful campaign led to the problems of a declining birth rate after.

In any event, “The Funeral” has deeply touched me and given me a hope that I may too have my own family one day. I hope MCYS will make better use of the success of this ad to further strengthen the publicity stint. And perhaps this one perfect funeral could turn into many more perfect weddings in the near future.

My virgin article on marketing will be featured on zbWeekly, a sub-paper for Lianhe Zaobao on Sundays.

The first article is entitled, “One perfect Funeral”, giving an overview of the latest MCYS ad, “The Funeral”. Why it works or don’t work and how the success or failure could be expanded further.

It will be in mandarin. So if you can read Chinese, support me by getting your copy next Sunday! I will be uploading a scanned copy with translation here as well.

Stay tuned!