That is of course, if you have one in the first place.
There is often confusion in the “strategy” and the “plan”. Let’s think of it this way, do you remember the “forest theory” as stated in the book, Seven habits of highly effective people? Don’t fail to see the forest because of the trees. More often than not, we are so engrossed in trying to “cut down the trees” that we don’t realise we have been bulldozing in the wrong forest all these while. So think of the strategy as “the forest” and plan as “the tree”. Hence, a move such as creating a facebook page is not a strategy, it is an execution that is part of the plan. So each time you are excite by an execution, take a step back and review what is your strategy. We know that in business, we are often restricted by budgets and resources. So keeping tabs and checking back regularly will ensure that these resources and money are put into best use and not in clearing a wrong forest at the end of the day.
So once you have your strategy in place, you start drawing out your plans, which may include building of properties, content etc. While you are eagerly trying to grow your fans and having fun with the social media hype, please pause and make sure you have done the following :
Study your consumer behaviours… not solely on your site/page but on your competitors’ as well. Who are your target audience? When are they logging on? What are they interested in? If you have a social media consultant, please seek his/her advice. If you have engaged him/her based on their experience/capabilities, trust that they may have a few good advice for you.
What, when, where?… On a day-to-day basis, your brand may be filled with an wide array of products, events and promotions and you want everything to be on your social platforms – all at once. Well, think again. Look back at your strategy, think about your objectives and target audience. In the end, you don’t want your page to look like another bazaar in a flea market. So don’t rush to have everything dumped into your social platforms. Decide what, when and where.
The reason I have entitled this blog post “Pace your social media strategy” is because I have observed some “spamming” from some brands. Not literally but rightfully so in the eyes of the consumer. Pacing is VERY important and the steps above will help you understand how you should pace your strategy. Let me cite you an example…
Brand A wants to build a sustainable community on Facebook, and to use it as a platform to promote the USPs of their premium product targeted at 24 – 35. However, aside from that they also have many overlapping campaigns with different objectives running at the same time. So while they are sharing resources and lifestyle topics around the primary product focus, they are also flooding the page with a brand campaign, a sponsorship campaign, as well as a hip event targeted at the youths between 14 to 21. As the bulk of the work is aplenty, there are multiple agencies handling the different pieces and posting at their own pace. Unfortunately, it caused an influx of Youtube video posts on the event over a weekend that takes the fan page by storm without warning or build-up towards it. And on the conversational side, another agency is trying to talk about World Cup. And in between those event posts, there’s news about their sponsorship efforts which targets at a very different group of users.
Now think… if you are a fan on the page. Would you continue to “like” it?
A question may be appearing in your mind at this time, “But then… shouldn’t a sustainable strategy means that I do not separate my brand into multiple pages?” Yes indeed that should be the ideal. Then, how can you make the efforts seem more receptive to your audience while you are trying to promote different things at the same time?
Objective > Strategy > Plan: You may not be able to do everything on the same platform. But really, WHAT are you trying to do? Build fans? Build brand equity? Build product awareness? What is it? With that mind, you will know how to pick and choose from the bulk of your content.
Pace it, time it: Different group of audience may have different usage behaviours. By posting relevant content to relevant audience at a time where you can maximise eyeballs, you are likely to see better success for your efforts. At the same time, analyse the trends of your fans consumption for content, do you start losing them when you post more often or less often? What is their tipping point?
What they like and not what you like: Many of us can be disillusioned in the type of content that will appeal to our community. Listen and observe when they tend to reply more often, what kind of content gets better traction. Test waters and ask for feedback.
It is common for brands to start flooding their fan pages with everything when the strategy is not clear. There is no direction on what the content should be building towards or where the end destination should be. There is also no way to plot a content strategy out of all the information on the table. My experience working with some clients are that many a times, they are more concerned with themselves than their target audience. They are concerned if they are posting it quick enough or accurately enough and not if their target audience are reading it or are interested to read it. And in this instance, the momentum is inconsistent which is likely to grow into a broadcasting platform for them to rave about themselves.
As the saying goes, more haste less speed. To create a sustainable community for long-term brand benefits, pause for a moment and think about where you are heading. Pace your footsteps as you would as you embark on a marathon, so that you can complete this long and tough race to reach the finishing line in victory.
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!
My dear friends at Waggener Edstrom kindly invited me to the Sony Ericsson Media Event. Not knowing what to expect (although I did smell a new phone), I went to the event held at Marina Bay Sands on the afternoon of 16 June. Sony Ericsson has chosen not to take part in CommunicAsia this year, but to piggyback on the biggest IT exhibition-conference in the region to create a number of fringe events around it. One is this media event, and the other, a showcase by Sony Ericsson’s APAC digital ambassador, popular Korean girl-band, The Wonder Girls.
I also took this opportunity to speak with Steve Walker, Head of Global Product Marketing for Sony Ericsson to get some of his ideas on their social media strategy for the region. Although I hadn’t managed to dig any deep insights from him in the short 10 minute conversation (together with 2 other media), the interview might provide you with some idea on Sony Ericsson’s direction in the digital arena. Some of Sony Ericsson’s global digital success includes a viral video to market the X1, the W595 Darkside campaign, the Extra Man campaign for 2010 Fifa World Cup, and the C95 Online Photographic Competition, just to name a few.
Sony Ericsson has taken some very interesting plunge into social media as a global effort. With Sony Ericsson’s re-brand to align with Sony’s global tagline ofmake.believe, there is a lot of potential to expand on this and create new interesting campaigns & outreach. I for one, love the limitless possibilities of this tagline concept (See Jayden’s blog as an example on their blogger approach. Less the fact that they actually advocate PAYING for coverage of course). I’m definitely looking forward to more localised campaigns that will excite the local online community.
Before we touched further on the SE event, I would first like to make a comment on the venue. Marina Bay Sands so does not live up to its name. Not only the venue is hardly ready to be opened, the premium proposition of Sands Vegas is totally not felt in this location. We may be looking at something less than a white elephant, but rather, one which we are likely to refer as the empty vessel. The management will have a lot of work to do to up its standards.
(APAC Overview by Hirokazu Ishizuka, Corporate Vice President and Head of APAC region)
(left to right : Mike Foong, Chester Chen & Joe Teh)
It was all in all a simple affair, there was a surprisingly good turn-out from the invited bloggers. My best guess is many of them have lined up activities for CommunicAsia on the same day so they do not have to apply for too many days of leave away from work. It was good to meet familiar faces like @MikeFoong, @JamCanSing, @DK, @amsie and also finally met @JoeTeh, @triplez82 for the first time.
(left to right : Amelia Wong, ME & DK)
The event was to launch a entire series of new phones from the Xperia series, new walkman phones and an eco-friendly no-frills handset. You can read more about the phone’s specifications from Justin Lee’s coverage here.
(Thanks to Justin on the clarification on the correct model names) The Xperia X8 was the highlight of the evening, the more affordable and smaller twin of the X10, the X8 comes in a number of colourful gradient casings to choose from. But the one that really impressed me was the Xperia10 Mini, which is a very smart design, targeted to fill the missing link between a small and handy but smart phone. This design should suit ladies very well, the light-weight and sleek looking design is also perfect as an accessory to be hung from the neck. Mobile social networking is fast moving towards the mass market and is no longer a gadget for the geek. However, not everyone is ready to carry around a bulky phone and the Xperia10 Mini may just be the solution for this group of people.
Best entertainment phone or not, I do not know. But it is certainly the stylish phone that Sony Ericsson has always positioned their products to be, making it the most accessible phone for the new kid on the block. I was initially unconvinced by the way the interface works and how it connects with the contacts on the phone. However, after an introduction and demo by Justin, I changed my mind and may just consider the X10 Mini if I ever need a smaller smart phone. The only challenge is that I’ve never used Sony Ericsson before and am skeptical about the brand & product.
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.
Over client trainings and some chats with friends who are less social media savvy, I realised a common misconception on the term “Social Media”. So that brings us back to the fundamental question of what exactly IS “Social Media”? And what’s the problem with this term?
Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
Print media is communications delivered via paper or canvas
Published media is any media made available to the public
Digital Media is electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive digitized information
Then simply to say… social media can be defined as
Communications delivered through Social Channels
But of course, that is streamlining it to a very basic idea. The nature of social media works distinctively different from many other types of media. However, I would like to bring your attention to the two main keywords I see in the statement above. That is Communications and Social. The two words suggest 1) Listening & Talking and also 2) Engaging. Which more or less sums up the most important but most commonly overlooked aspects in Social Media.
So What is the Problem with “Social Media”?
As social media is largely dependent on the use of technology, hence many folks commonly interpret it by the technological platforms in which these communications sit on.
I have probably heard this a thousand times.
Q : What is Social Media?
A : Oh! Facebook and Twitter?
While this answer is not technically wrong, many people miss out the importance of “engagement”. So when I try to explain how conversations are being carried out, I may be returned with either one of the following reaction.
A: Oh! You mean spamming?
B : But what do you talk about?
Brands aside, when further explained to individuals on the great potential social media can do for their personal profiles, the responses are usually
A : But I have nothing to say about myself.
B : But I don’t want anyone to know about me.
Don’t be mistaken, I don’t mean privacy is wrong. In fact, the more active you are on social media, the more caution you should take on your privacy status. What I am saying is there is a common misunderstanding of what exactly social media is all about. It isn’t about platforms or technology alone, it is also not about being egoistic and exposing your privacy to the world. Last but not least, it is not about a group of people gossiping on the internet space. Sure, there are bound to be times of casual conversations, but those conversations do not reign over the actual sharing of great ideas and resources.
The other common misunderstanding is that “media” indicates a connection with “journalism”. Well, I will blame it on the commonly coined term, “citizen journalism”. This term has been used to describe the trend of breaking news on Twitter, the convenience of allowing the public to send photo stories to online tabloids like “Stomp” in Singapore. The ability for anyone to write articles, shoot photos and host their own shows online. This has created a lot of skepticism for many people, especially traditional folks; irking at the fact that news from the internet is now a job of any tom, dick or harry. That concept alone puts people off.
The problem with social media is… people have all kinds of weird perception of this term. It is an overly-used and overly-hyped (and of course, overly-rated) term that actually serves no purpose except in describing the nature of this medium. Think about this… 20 years ago, you could live without email at work and things still click. But 2 decades later today, if your email server went down for an hour at work, you are likely to be screaming your head off at the technician. Social media will become a way of life that is indispensable in the same way. It is simply a natural evolution of technology that provides us with another communication platform. It makes our world smaller by connecting people from different corners of the globe. It facilitates all the social activities you would previously have to meet up in person to execute. There is no rocket science in the idea of social media. Don’t be intimidated by big words like these.
The Two Cs to SOCIAL
My simple explanation to social media can essentially be broken into two keywords. Communication and Conversations.
Communication
Verbal (written) communication: Conversations through messages, status updates, voice chats etc.
Non-verbal communication: Sharing photos, videos, games, virtual goods etc.
Real-time: One of the uniqueness of social media is the ability for real-time interactions to take place.
Conversations
Dialogue : Two-persons conversation.
Multi-way: Conversations from multiple sources/directions involving many participants at the same time.
Communication Platforms : Photo/Video sharing sites (eg. Youtube), blogs (like this), social networking sites (eg. Facebook). These sites may house communication tools like sending messages, status updates, poking, send a gift, social games, photo gallery etc.
I hope that clears the air for many people who are overwhelmed by what social media is all about. Whatever platforms that spring up, be it Facebook or Twitter or Foursquare. They are but tools that help facilitate human’s desire for communication. Our lifestyles has evolved, but not so much has changed in our need to share our lives with one another. The only difference? It just became easier.
This is going to be a really short post (I hope). A topic that came to mind as I was working out a proposal for a client. I realise some people are still unaware on how to effectively use the Direct Message feature on Twitter. Or rather, I should say many still think of Twitter as a “broadcast” tool. And uses the DM like a “personalised broadcast tool”. *shakes head* Let’s get back to basics.
How word-of-mouth is disseminated on Twitter
When a tweet is being sent out, you will first reach your immediate followers (1st degree), which their retweets will reach their immediate followers (2nd degree) and so forth. Any replies, retweets or following will expose your message and profile to new people. So think of a multi-level communication structure when you send that tweet out.
So never think no one is reading. Someone always is.
Think : Why Twitter?
If you have chosen Twitter as a channel, I would expect you are looking to converse and engage folks in conversations.
You want to share as well as get the latest news, be in the know-how and obtain real-time responses.
You want to be seen, be heard and be noticed.
You want your word to be spreaded.
You want to grow a sustainable community (following).
You want to syndicate your content from other platforms.
Think: Why Public?
You want your conversations and content postings to be public because of all the reasons above. It’s a great place to know people and lead your conversations into a private discussion. However if it is your intention to be seen, be heard and be noticed, feeding your content on DMs (especially when you have yet to build a personal relationship with the other party) will make you seem spammy. And by doing so, you lose an opportunity to encourage retweets.
The great thing about Twitter is you never know who is reading what. Something that might not seem interesting to you could be intriguing to someone else. Hence if you want the word to be spread around, it’s always a general principle to have that word in public. Unless of course, it is meant to be private in the first place.
Think: Why Direct Messages?
Chats : You may be engaging with a very sensitive or hot topic with someone and your conversations are flooding your stream. Now, people hate “flooding”. So take this conversation in private.
CRM : You found a disgruntled customer. You want to address the problem. Reach out in public, show that you are listening and you want to take the problem forward. Bring the conversation into private mode and resolve any pressing issues, including obtaining customer information to rectify the matter.
Private & Personal Notes : You want to get some attention and you don’t think it’s necessary to announce it to the world. It could be a note to a personal friend that doesn’t fits your professional image. A date with someone with meeting details that you would prefer to keep it private. All contact information should be exchanged privately.
Think: When NOT to use Direct Messages?
When you are intending to mass send the same message to everyone and make it look like you are actually trying to be personalised. Actually, this applies not only to Direct Messages. You shouldn’t even attempt doing that on Twitter (or anywhere). Most people would generally classify that act as spamming.
Automated messages. Similar to the above, except this is even worse. Never send an automated message especially when your intention is to tell someone to “visit my website”, “check out this cool video”. Trust me, you would be reported soon.
When you don’t exactly know the person well and have nothing personal to say. Especially for brands. You would want to be deem listening publicly. So even if you are trying to garner some direct feedback from fans, make it a point to greet the person publicly first and ask if you can speak in private. (Just like you wouldn’t ask for someone’s number without getting his/her name first.)
What’s GREAT about Direct Messages?
It gives you an opportunity to get to know someone beyond face value on Twitter. An avenue to exchange private information without fear for being stalked by strangers.
You do not have to worry about your messages being flooded in the streams of replies and that someone you are talking to may just happen to miss it.
The need for DM encourages 2-way following. That is because you can only DM someone who is following you.
Ahhem… okay, the post didn’t end up being very short at all. But there are definitely more to share. The “Direct Message” feature is a great tool but use it wisely. The downside of it is that many people has ceased to check their DM due to an influx of spams. Ask around, you would realise many of your friends probably don’t check their Facebook Inbox messages too for the same reasons. So DM does not guarantee you will definitely reach who you are trying to get. Again, the great thing about Twitter is the ability to reach hundreds and thousands of people in real-time. So you really want to be OUT THERE.
Social media has made a significant difference to my life and career path in 2009. It opened doors and windows to unknown possibilities and a brand new horizon, to people and places where I’ve not imagined myself to meet and be.
If you are still new to social media, perhaps upon reading this post, you may find that it’s not so hard to comprehend after all. It is basically a relatively newer platform that humans use to communicate with one another. And many rules of life remains the same.
Social Media is like Life
Start with the end in mind : Before you embark on a journey, you always decide a destination. Even if you don’t already, you are always in search of one. Social media is a lot like life, you need to know where you want to go and find the route to reach that destination along the way.
Stop and look (listen) : Don’t be too hasty in trying to reach your destination or make achievements. Take small steps and make it a point to stop and look (listen) at your surroundings. You could find yourself discovering beautiful sceneries and observations you would otherwise have missed if you traveled on the highways. Listen to what people are talking about and make conversations to the most unlikely suspects. You would be rewarded with gifts of pleasant surprises along the way.
Sincerity wins the day : Wherever you go in life, whichever agenda you may have, whatever you want to do, the basics of communication lies in the word “sincerity”. Lacking this in your heart and you risk closing many opportunities. Whether for your personal brand or for your clients, make it a point not to try too hard in selling. Be sincere in knowing the community and learn to be a part of that culture. Sincerity will lead you to some of the most amazing ends of the rainbows.
And life is grateful, for it will give you back what you have given
A lot like life, you will reap the returns from social media in relative to the contributions in which you have made. You may not be expecting it in the same form as you have given, but those rewards will be translated and distributed to you in various ways and you will see many of these turning into long-term benefits or life-changing events.
A new job in Social Media
Some of the unexpected rewards that was bestowed upon me includes a new job – as a digital PR strategist. In case you do not know, I am currently working for an international PR agency, leading digital efforts in the Singapore office whilst supporting my regional director in many of his projects. I have always wanted to explore public relations as an extension to my marketing knowledge but had procrastinated those plans when I found myself in a comfortable position with my last company.
However, the law of attraction was probably working for me when my an opportunity with my current employer knocked on the door. I was flattered to be recommended by a fellow tweep (one who tweets) who had not met me prior to putting my name in for the job. It is a wonder how social media has change the way we network in the business world forever. “Knowing someone” today does not require you to put a physical face to a name. However, the level of trust you can build in an online acquaintance will be a tricky issue that we each have to tackle with ourselves. Then again, knowing someone in person don’t mean you know the person either.
Since taking on this new position, I’ve had a chance to put my skills and knowledge into good test with various international clients and with some desirable results that has proved to be very valuable case studies for my company and myself. I’ll share more with everyone at another appropriate time.
Life-transforming friends
Many friendships sprout by coincidences and when you least expect it. When the internet began to find popularity in the 90s, it created a new platform for people to make friends and expand their social circle. The evolution of social media has made this more evident than ever, allowing active interactions across platforms beyond simply chat. Each of these are designed for different purposes, from corporate social networking to challenging your friends on mini games. Everyone is bound to find something that fits their interest. This has made communications online a lot more conducive and effective than before.
And as life would have it, some of the most important people you are destined to meet are not conveniently sitting next to you. But by heaps of coincidences, you find them among the millions on the world wide web. Whether is it making new friends or getting in touch with old ones, social media has facilitated this so we no longer have the excuse of “saying we are too busy”.
Looking back, this year has indeed been a fascinating one for me personally. I’ve met some of the most amazing people in my life and some whom I’ve made steadfast friends with. Of these, I know a few will last a long way into the future.
A wealth of knowledge
The largest library I know today is not the one sitting in the city central. It is the one that sits within my browser. The internet is the world’s largest and greatest library of resources. I am sure no one can debate that with me. However, social media has changed the way we obtain those information and knowledge. Information used to be passive (web 1.0) and requires the user to actively find it. However, with the introduction of social media, information today is now fed to us in many different ways through RSS, Twitter, friends’ links, video clips etc. It floods our screens from every direction, cluttering our tiny brains. Sometimes, this overwhelming influx of knowledge can even be intimidating. But we take less effort today to locate and store resources, as well as making interesting finds that are out of our knowledge range. This helps expand our worldview and perspectives.
I feel almost deprived of knowledge when I am away from my social media platforms for too long and often when I hop back on again, I found myself trying very hard to grasp the crazy amount of new information that has been released in the past 24 hours. That is just how fast information travels today. REAL-TIME. Everything in your print is now “yester-news”.
However, from another point of view, I do agree that the dependence on technology just makes us more geeky than ever. So do balance that with some good ole travels. Nothing beats the real experience, for a journey of a thousand mile starts with a single step.
My personal sentiments
Many people around me are unable to understand how am I able to make a living out of Facebook and Twitter. What they are seeing are only the platforms, but they have failed to understand the nature of human’s desire to communicate and interact. It baffles my family on how I was able to find strange encounters online. Obviously they didn’t believe I had jobs looking for me just because I talk a lot on Twitter. Which, they obviously have no idea what is Twitter despite reading so much about it in the papers.
Social media is an overly used and overly hyped term in my opinion. It is simply but communications and dissemination of information. Something really simple, but branded with a unique terminology that differentiates it from the rest of the “traditional” channels.
Social media is not something I do to look hip or cool. It is simply a way of life I have chosen that happens to work perfectly well for me. I can travel miles everyday while seated at my desk. I venture into unknown waters and meet interesting people, as if I am transported into “Alice in the Wonderland” or “Wizard of Oz” each single day. Sometimes I meet with the Queen of Hearts, while others, I may bump into the Tin Man or Scarecrow. But each revealing a little about myself.
Social media beyond my job, is a journey of discovering others and unraveling myself.
Beyond personal experiences
In the next chapter of Social Media Lessons in 2009, I will share some of the prominent cases of social media locally and in the region that has created waves and changes. There are many lessons to be learned from social media this year, lessons which businesses should take serious learnings from especially those to do with digital crisis management. Governments around the world has also taken social media a lot more seriously than before as they see the dire situations it can potentially put them in. Consider the move in which China has imposed an embargo on all major foreign social media platforms within the country.
2010 will see major shifts in the landscape with many big players vying hard to be the commanding power. Lots to touch on, but till then, it’s time to return to the Yellow Brick Road.
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.
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。
Although I don’t totally agree, but somehow, I think that is a natural evolution in digital marketing & PR. It is simply a natural extension from offline to online to uphold the most basic principles of honesty in business. Most of us industry professionals do live up to the promotion of transparency and authenticity. However there are cases where makes it hard for these principles to be in place. Well explained by John Bell from Ogilvy, I highly recommend you should read it.
Unlike journalists, bloggers are free individuals who are not bound by job responsibilities or professional ethics. They are not obliged to promote or say good things about the brand. There are many grey lines to the concept of a effective set of governing rules. While monetary transactions are clear, there is a difference between giving away samples and endorsements. While I agree that any form of endorsements should be disclosed, but are samples considered “sponsorship” as suggested by FTC? Surely it’s not an issue to tell anyone the sample was given. But it is also the influencer’s free will to decide if he/she thinks it is an issue worth mentioning at all. After all, you get samples when you shop at malls. It’s not such a big deal to everyone.
According to page 59 of the FTC guidelines, this example was cited,
A consumer who regularly purchases a particular brand of dog food decides one day to purchase a new, more expensive brand made by the same manufacturer. She writes in her personal blog that the change in diet has made her dog’s fur noticeably softer and shinier, and that in her opinion, the new food definitely is worth the extra money. This posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.
Assume that rather than purchase the dog food with her own money, the consumer gets it for free because the store routinely tracks her purchases and its computer has generated a coupon for a free trial bag of this new brand. Again, her posting would not be deemed an endorsement under the Guides.
Assume now that the consumer joins a network marketing program under which she periodically receives various products about which she can write reviews if she wants to do so. If she receives a free bag of the new dog food through this program, her positive review would be considered an endorsement under the Guides.
Assume now that the consumer joins a network marketing program under
which she periodically receives various products about which she can
write reviews if she wants to do so. If she receives a free bag of the new
dog food through this program, her positive review would be considered
an endorsement under the Guides.
Okay, I understand the examples above. But what if… the consumer did not join a network marketing program, but rather because she’s an existing customer, the brand was listening to her rants online and approached her to try a new product to garner feedback. Would that be considered as endorsement under the Guides? Apparently it should. But as free individuals, not representing professional bodies, this rule to make it compulsory (forced) for the influencer to mention, and the brand/company to monitor his posting for “compliance” may make the influencer feel pressured, as though prisoned or under the eyes of an eagle. Such action seems to be sailing away from the primitive objective of blogging and conversations. Please don’t mistaken me, I am not against the ideals of this guideline as a marketer. I am just doubting it from my capacity as a social media activist. Question is… would I prefer to freely do it, or be compelled to do it – by law. But again, this is a very tough question to answer, as laws are usually there to protect against deceit and fraud. But this case in particular, it seems to infringe the private space of individuals. Much to be debated about.
Social Media Guidelines beyond FTC
I definitely foresee the Guidelines to be assessed and reviewed over time. But nevertheless, it will become a norm in many countries in the years to come. And one such place I believe which will catch it on quickly, will be my homeland, Singapore.
Singapore has always been known for all kinds of rules and regulations. Being a country run by campaigns and systems, I am confident MDA (Media Development Authority of Singapore) will definitely use FTC Guidelines as a benchmark to draft a similar set of domestic guidelines for Singapore. However, the issue of disclosing collaboration between brands and bloggers was kind of resolved a pretty long time ago here, when Nuffnang was set up in 2007. Nuffnang is a blogger advertising community which bridges advertisers and bloggers. Note, I mentioned advertisers. Which means it does not exactly promote or build long-term relationships. It basically plays as the media company (like a matchmaker) between the two. Which, to be really really honest, despite the success of the concept, I don’t agree with it at all. It is making all our top blogs look like advertising billboards, and instilling the concept of blogging to earn money. I can’t decide which comes first. Passion or Money.
Anyway, back to the topic… despite having bodies like these in place setting some rules straight so consumers can recognise an ad when they see it, it is still an opt-in program. An official guideline will act as a good balance to set the note right for the many social media developments in the near future. Social media as we know it, has expanded beyond simply blogs. And it is fast becoming unclear what would deem to be an advertisement, what is really credible and what is actually a chapter of stealth marketing. It is likely beyond a community effort to keep it authentic any longer. Even with official guidelines, it will be challenging to execute it efficiently.
What Singapore Can Do?
Instead of implementing hard and fast rules, what I suggest MDA could do, is to work with 4As and other professional bodies governing the marketing and PR profession to make it mandatory for agencies to commit and declare themselves to a set of disclosure guidelines (Take a leaf out of CASE – Consumer Association of Singapore), which binds the industry to perform ethically instead of confusing the public with vague descriptions on concepts of “endorsements” and “sponsorships”, which could lead to 101 different cases of possibilities and arguments.
No one would want to risk a personal reputation for nothing. Unless it is a clause or request from the paymaster, I doubt any influencer would intentionally keep payments or endorsements discreet. So by instating such guidelines on the professional bodies, most of such doubts should be cleared. And in cases where samples are sent to bloggers, I think it should be their free will to disclose the source. There are always sites to sign up for free samples and I do not think this is a pressing issue since they are not obliged to write anything positive about the product. Hence, their credibility should not be doubted.
Asia Beyond Singapore
With Asia’s social media developments growing at a robust 29% annually, it is currently the largest region in the world with lowest internet penetration.
And would such guidelines be effective in other parts of Asia outside Singapore? I’m not sure if there are existing guidelines in Japan or Korea (please let me know if there are) but I think this would probably work in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The consumer market there is largely similar to Singapore although having different purchasing behaviours. Social media activities such as blogging is a mainstream activity in Taiwan, where it is reported that 70.9% of the internet users have created a blog themselves. Which many of these celebrity bloggers have now been converted into TV commercial models.
However, you would probably be more interested with the case of India and China. I would think China is desperate for such a set of guidelines but they are not ready for it. I would use the word “messy” to describe the social media landscape in China at this point. I believe they are still in a process of figuring out the best model that will work for the majority. Having such a vast land and population also means it is hard to administrate the rules if mass education is not in place. (Just look at all the domestic problems they have in ensuring quality control over health, food, manufacturing products etc).
As for India, I am not all that familiar with the market but I think it still lacks maturity and will take a couple of years to grow before the population catches it on as a mainstream activity.
But I do believe South-east Asia would be a potential region to explore such guidelines. It is however up to individual countries to decide the importance that social media will play to its economy.
Never too early to think about it, never too late to execute it.
But the FTC guidelines for social media has grown to become an international concern and benchmark beyond the United States. The world is watching, observing, learning and reflecting.
No matter what kind of approach is adapted in the end, nevertheless, it’s time to stop and rethink authenticity.
An advocate of self-defined success and excellence, Belinda found her passion and forte in the social media sphere, with an all-rounded perspective of the integrated marketing environment having served in areas of film, events, viral with a foundation in multimedia. She is also guest contributor for marketing column in Lianhe Zaobao.
The largest library I know today is not the one sitting in the city central. It is the one that sits within my browser. The internet is the world’s largest and greatest library of resources. I am sure no one can debate that with me. However, social media has changed the way we obtain those information and knowledge. Information used to be passive (web 1.0) and requires the user to actively find it. However, with the introduction of social media, information today is now fed to us in many different ways through RSS, Twitter, friends’ links, video clips etc. It floods our screens from every direction, cluttering our tiny brains. Sometimes, this overwhelming influx of knowledge can even be intimidating. But we take less effort today to locate and store resources, as well as making interesting finds that are out of our knowledge range. This helps expand our worldview and perspectives.
