The Singapore Marketer (Apr-Jun 2017)

the singapore

marketer knowledge for marketing excellence

apr-jun’17

NO MAN CAN WALK ALONE

Neither can social media

PLUS+

$5.35 incl. GST

14 How To Growth Hack Your Brand?

20 How Can Social Media Lead Effective Product Marketing?

The Official Publication of the Marketing Institute of Singapore, the National Body for Sales and Marketing

BE SPOILT with Special Rates for our Training Courses and Events

IT IS WORTH IT.

Enjoy up to 20% discount on over 130 courses.

Preferential rates for events organised or supported by MIS.

We have every reason for you to renew your MIS Membership.

BE THE FIRST to be informed of our Industry Talks, Conducted by Renowned Speakers: BE PART OF THE ACTION with the Largest Community of Sales and Marketing Professionals in Singapore

BE ASSOCIATED with Professional Titles Be accorded professional designatory title of FMIS (Hon), FMIS, MMIS or AMIS after your name.

Rodney Tay, Vice President, Digital Sales Solution and Operations, MediaCorp Pte Ltd. Theresa Pragasam-Sidhu, Director of Brand Management, Intercontinental Hotels Group and many more!

Join the network of over 1,000 Sales and Marketing professionals.

NAME

Steven Tan

MEMBERSHIP NO.

10123

START DATE

01.01.17

EXPIRY DATE

31.12.17

Connecting & Creating Marketers

ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP

2 YEARS @ $170 (U.P. $200)

5 YEARS @$375 (U.P. $500)

OTO Neck Snuggler (worth $58)

OGAWA Mobile Seat XE (worth $199)

Additional perks (worth $450) | All Ordinary Membership Renewals will receive 2 MIS Event Passes, 1 Atos Wellness Voucher, 1 Life Spa Voucher and a free OTTICA Eye Check-Up.

2 YEARS @ $595 (U.P. $700)

5 YEARS @ $1,225 (U.P. $1,750)

Additional perks (worth $1,000) | All Corporate Membership Renewals will receive 2 MIS Event Passes, 2 Atos Wellness Voucher, 2 Life Spa Vouchers and 2 OTTICA Eye Check-Up Vouchers.

Please visit www.mis.org.sg/membership/renewal or call 6327 7580 to renew your membership.

Marketing Institute of Singapore Website: www.mis.org.sg/membership

51 Anson Road #03-53 Anson Centre Singapore 079904 Email: membership@mis.org.sg

Tel: 6327 7581/582

Editor’s Note Dear Readers Social media have dominated how we all communicate. The online communities carry a strong and influential voice, and there is much to be gained in engaging directly with people through these channels. How often did you feel interested to buy something after reading what your favourite celebrity or blogger wrote about it?

THE SINGAPORE MARKETER

April - June 2017

Editor Mickey Hee Contributing Writers Natalie Koh, Charles Phua, Nazhath Faheema and Pamela Wigglesworth MIS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President Roger Wang 1st Vice President Bhavik Bhatt 2nd Vice President Dr Roger Low Honorary Secretary Mark Laudi Asst Honorary Secretary Dylan Tan Honorary Treasurer Gerry Seah

In today’s “sound-bite” environment in which professional organisations compete for clients’ limited and selective attention through a variety of communications conduits, it is increasingly important to consider and evaluate the potentially powerful benefits of new social media tools. However, to properly leverage their benefits, one must also understand that these new tools are just that – tools. Social media tools should be used with a clear objective in mind and with the consistent application of well-known but often overlooked communications principles. Furthermore, they will have the most marketing impact when used in conjunction with other social and non-social media communications tools. That’s why Natalie Koh titled her article as ‘No man can walk alone - and neither can social media’. Flip on to read the amazing tips she would like to share with you.

We have seen too many ads on social media “trying” to do some selling. How effective is customer acquisition on social media? Before you pump most of your budget on social media where you deemed that most of your target audiences are, sit back and ask yourself, do you intentionally spend enough time to learn about products or services? Writer Nazhath Faheema emphasized in her article that marketers cannot find customers on social media. Is it wise to correlate social media metrics to customer acquisition and brand engagement objectives? Social media is what she called ‘societies within societies’. You have to understand the true value of social media in order to gain the full advantage of the platform. If this has piqued your interest, this issue will definitely be worth your reading time!

Last but not least, I wish all readers a smooth sailing month and may all your marketing campaigns achieve optimal results.

Asst Honorary Treasurer Freddy Tan Co-opted Council Members Jackson Chua Edmund Lau Lee Kwok Weng Design & Layout Kelvin Wang Production, Advertising & Circulation Joreen Yee joreen.yee@mis.org.sg Publisher Marketing Institute of Singapore 51 Anson Centre #03-53 Singapore 079904 Tel: (65) 6327 7580 Fax: (65) 6327 9741 Email: singaporemarketer@mis.org.sg Website: www.mis.org.sg

Mickey Hee

Editor

The Singapore Marketer is a quarterly magazine published by Marketing Institute of Singapore.

Tel: (65) 6294 7227. Subscription is available upon request; please contact Joreen Yee at joreen.yee@mis.org.sg.

The views expressed in The Singapore Marketer do not necessarily represent those of the Marketing Institute of Singapore. No responsibility is accepted by the Institute or its staff for the accuracy of any statement, opinion, or advice contained in the text or advertisements, and readers are advised to rely on their judgment or enquiries, and to consult their own advisers in making any decisions which would affect their interest. All materials appearing in The Singapore Marketer is copyright. No part of the publication may be reproduced without prior written permission of the Marketing Institute of Singapore. The Marketing Institute of Singapore welcomes contributions and letters. These might be edited for clarity or length. Articles, letters and requests to reproduce articles appearing in The Singapore Marketer should be sent to the Editor, Marketing Institute of Singapore, 51 Anson Road, #03-53 Anson Centre, Singapore 079904 or write to singaporemarketer@mis.org.sg.

1

The Leader in Executive Development in Asia

Using Social Media for Marketing Communications?

We’ve got you covered.

COURSES Writing for Social Media: Engaging the Masses, Encouraging Customer Loyalty* Integrated Marketing Communications – Increasing Brand Awareness & Engagement NEW! Social Media and Online PR Training* Fast Track Digital Marketing Training* Content Marketing for Web, Mobile & Social Media* Brand Building in the Digital Age Masterclass NEW! Blogging Essentials - Increasing Traffic through Engaging & Useful Content

Copywriting for Marketing Materials* Effective Crisis Management Communications Power Words & Phrases that Sell, Influence & Convince NEW! Social Media Advocacy Strategies* Story Selling – Create High Impact Sales & Marketing Stories NEW! From Data to Sign - Infographics Essentials NEW! Masterclass in Lead Generation NEW! 27 Website Secrets that Get Visitors to Buy* Perfecting the Media Pitch*

To view full couse listing and dates or to register, please go to www.mis.org.sg/seminars Courses can be customised to meet your unique training needs (Companies only).

Companies * Approved for SDF funding (Employer-sponsored Singaporeans and PRs only).

Companies can also enjoy tax deductions and/or cash payout under the prevailing Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme.

FOR COURSE ENQUIRIES:

T/ 6327 7586 / 587 / 588 W/ www.mis.org.sg/seminars E/ seminars@mis.org.sg

Individuals * SkillsFuture claimable for eligible individuals

A/ 51 Anson Road #03-53 Anson Centre Singapore 079904

Discounts 20% Discount for MIS Members 5% Group Discount for 3 or more participants

Content Page

04 COVER STORY No man can walk alone – and neither can social media

A MARKETER’S STORY

8

Interview with Trisha Kuek, Social Media Associate Lazada Singapore

FOCUS

14

How To Growth Hack Your Brand

FEATURE

20

How Can Social Media Lead Effective Product Marketing?

GURU TALK

26

8 Ways to Reduce the Cost of Content Marketing

MARKETER@WORK

32

Interview with Belinda Ang, Founder-Director, thinkBIG Communications

3

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

4

Cover Story

No man can walk alone

– and neither can social media » Natalie Koh It is a phenomenon we see all too often: marketers griping about the immeasurability of social media or lamenting the futility of their efforts at upkeeping a wide spread of social media accounts.

Even if you do everything right within the context of social media – such as leveraging paid media to combat the dearth of organic reach, or converting a single piece of writing on your website into various content types to be distributed on different platforms – it seems only a matter of time you find yourself hitting a brick wall. Engagement may reach new heights, but clickthroughs and conversions continue to lag.

The reason? Social media cannot work alone.

Defining how social media can work for you As with all other branches of marketing, social media marketing requires a fixed set of goals and objectives. Knowing what social media can do and what you expect from it is the first step to receiving a return on your efforts.

Of course, these objectives would have to be revenue driven, and this could come in multiple forms.

For instance, an advertising-driven website would be content with directing clicks, while an ecommerce website would look at conversion rates i.e. purchases.

What happens then, when you finally achieve low cost-per-mille (CPMs) and cost-per-click (CPCs) – but these fail to translate into, say, purchases on your site, or even leads generated through forms on your site?

Truth is, too many of us approach different digital marketing channels

in silos, when they should work together under a cohesive digital strategy.

Imagine, for instance, successfully executing a LinkedIn advertising campaign that does wonders in driving clicks to your landing page to collect leads, only to find that many people leave upon reaching your site.

In this case, you might have attained low CPCs, but failed to generate any leads – which means you flopped in achieving your objective.

There could be many reasons for this: slow site loading time, poor user experience or the absence of mobile optimisation.

Or another reason, which is perhaps the most important yet one that is often overlooked, could be that the entire user journey of your audience had not been taken into account.

5

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Embark on user journeys with your customer When you do look at the typical user flow of your website, you might be surprised at where social media sits in the customer journey. Social media might be the first point of contact for companies of a certain industry, but it could be more prominent as a lead generation touchpoint in the middle portion of the user journey for another.

Think with Google offers an excellent tool that reveals typical customer journeys across various industries.

6

(Diagram taken from: thinkwithgoogle.com)

For instance, the first point of contact for large businesses in the beauty and fitness industry is often social media. Compare this with the first point of contact for small businesses in the sports industry, which is organic search.

Social remains an early and assisting role in this case, but you cannot ignore the importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) to ensure your brand gets discovered by your target audience. Follow this with retargeting ads on social media and generic paid search, grow an email database, deliver targeted messages to your database, and you have a sound digital strategy that taps into user behaviour and leverages on that to create conversions and bring a return on investment (ROI) to your digital efforts.

(Diagram taken from: thinkwithgoogle.com)

Needless to say, this applies specifically to small businesses in the sports industry. So it is important to find out where social media - or any marketing channel for that matter - rests in the typical user journey of your industry and shape your digital marketing strategies accordingly. It will be even better if you can take a look at your web analytics to determine the user journeys of your specific brand.

Cover Story

This is largely because while many marketers go on to social media for the same reason marketers have always flocked to where the masses gather - social media can and should be used in a wide variety of ways.

No template for social media strategies Not every brand should use social media for brand awareness, or purely to drive clicks, or to generate leads, or create direct conversions.

Case in point: The Business Times earns revenue in two ways, advertising and subscriptions. So it only makes sense our approach to social media in achieving those two objectives differs.

For example, since we earn through advertising from every pageview, we do use social media to drive clicks. However, we found that bounce rates were relatively high when traffic was directed from social

media. So features were put into place within our website to reduce bounce rate, encourage return rates and otherwise increase the number of pageviews per visitor to maximise revenue earned.

On the other hand, our approach to driving subscriptions with social media is slightly different. Aside from awareness ads that encourage clicks, we also use retargeting ads to drive e-newsletter sign-ups, which would serve as leads for potential subscribers. At the same time, we also offer free trial promotions through which we collect user data to reach out to them when subscription promotions are rolled out.

Even then, we do not rely on social media alone to achieve our objectives. We run display ads within our sister websites, send out e-newsletters, develop in-page features and so on, all of which work in tandem with social media to

achieve our goals.

Granted, social media platforms have come up with ways to ease the burden. Take Facebook for example.

Lack the capabilities to optimise your landing page to generate leads? Try Facebook’s lead ads. Want to direct product sales from your Facebook page? Try adding the new shop section to your page. Insufficient manpower to keep up with Facebook messages 24/7? Try a Facebook Messenger Chatbot.

However, these do not negate the need to look at user journeys as the bigger picture. Making use of these tools and features is great - it is always good to experiment - but using them without considering how they fit in your marketing funnel and customer journeys makes your marketing approach more tactical than strategic, which unfortunately may not be sustainable in the long run - and that’s when the griping starts.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Natalie Koh leads social media strategies for The Business Times, Singapore’s leading financial newspaper. In her past life, she was a journalist before joining a digital agency and working on digital strategies for brands such as 3M, Canon and Lufthansa.

7

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Interview with Trisha Kuek, Social Media Associate Lazada Singapore

8

Trisha lives and breathes social media. From her short stint in a digital agency to managing the social media strategies of Lazada, she has made a mark in the social media space as seen

by Lazada’s presence and success in the various social media platforms. In this issue of The Singapore Marketer, we have invited Trisha to share her tips and tricks to achieving an effective social media plan.

Can you tell us a little bit about your career path and your current role at the Lazada?

I started off with an internship at a small digital agency as a Social Media Analyst, which gave me my first taste of what it is like to be the voice of brands on their social media channels. It was a great overall experience as it forced me to think flexibly about adapting to each different brand persona that I was given. That said, I knew that I wanted to be more involved with

the planning and strategising of the social media campaigns (instead of just executing them), I didn’t want to just be the voice, I wanted to be the personality as well. So once I graduated from university, I joined the company again as a Digital Marketing Consultant, which gave me the opportunity to come up with social media campaigns and strategies from the inception stage.

I’ll be honest and say that it was a little disheartening at first due to the constant budget constraints

A Marketer’s Story

9

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

“ 10

I would describe Lazada as a big start-up; our company structure is quite flat, open and very flexible, which allows us to react swiftly to trends in the market.

and limited resources, but if there’s one lesson that I took away from it, it was to be very resourceful.

That aside, in coming up with my own overall social media plans for the clients I worked for, I felt that the ideas sometimes got lost in translation or weren’t executed exactly the way I envisioned them when I passed on the final briefs to my social media team. I missed being able to be more involved with my work when it came to delivering at the end of the day.

However, this all changed when I moved to Lazada as a Social Media Associate. I mean, people in the industry would probably see this as a shift from an agency environment to the client side, but this has hardly been the case. I am the client, the strategist, the

copywriter, the art director and the community manager all rolled into one. Basically, a one-stop chop shop. The only things that I didn’t do were the creative collaterals, which my brilliant creative team and freelance videographers executed so aptly with our close working relationships.

I would describe Lazada as a big start-up; our company structure is quite flat, open and very flexible, which allows us to react swiftly to trends in the market. I would say that I’ve been given a lot of opportunities to be as creative as I want and to be able to be a part of every step of the way makes it even more satisfying at the end of the day. The sky’s the limit, essentially, resource bandwidth considerations notwithstanding.

A Marketer’s Story

At the highest level, what’s the overall philosophy for Lazada on social media?

Throughout my time here, I have witnessed a complete shift in social media objectives since I first joined. We moved from hard-selling products on our social media channels to just being a community that people want to interact with and ultimately, be a part of. Lazada being an e-commerce firm that sells a crazy, wide assortment of products, I saw the opportunity to leverage on our target audience interests in each of the many, diverse categories that we have.

We want to be relatable first by showing that we understand what they like, before showing them that we have what they’re looking for.

Lazada has been successfully driving consumers from various social media platforms to its website, how is it done? What works, what doesn’t? How is your message crafted differently in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter?

What is Lazada’s content strategy for the respective social media channels?

Put simply, people care more about the visual aesthetics on Instagram, and for Twitter, the bite-sized information pieces on Twitter (that would lead to more informative publications about Lazada as a company).

For Facebook, our strategy is to try to drive more interactions with the page in the form of both originally created content and curated content pieces that are already going viral. As a tried-andtested fallback option, everyone loves a good contest giveaway on Facebook and Instagram, as long as it’s simple to participate in!

11

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

“ 12

What definitely doesn’t work on our social media channels would probably be shoving products into people’s faces, especially with a ‘sales objective’ type of messaging.

What definitely doesn’t work on our social media channels would probably be shoving products into people’s faces, especially with a ‘sales objective’ type of messaging.

Ultimately, people don’t go on social media with the objective to shop. We catch up on people’s lives, current affairs, and give them the opportunity to be entertained with content that we enjoy. What Lazada does is to win you over with these types of content first, before presenting you with what you may be interested in. You could call this the foot-in-the-door approach.

Can you share a social media campaign which you are most proud of and why?

I would say that there have been many radical changes for Lazada regarding their social media strategies, but my proudest campaign would probably be the Online Revolution 2016, which is supposed to reflect Alibaba’s Single’s Day in China, that starts on 11 November of each year.

I joined Lazada at the start of November 2015, right before their biggest campaign of the year, and to have played a part in that for two years running (along with the myriad of other campaigns) is considered quite a feat in itself. I’m particularly proud to have survived the first year, as I was quite literally thrown into the deep end.

A Marketer’s Story

Fast forward to 2016, I’m quite proud of all the changes that I had made throughout the year, and once Online Revolution 2016 hit, it was also the turning point in our newly-formed video strategy that enabled us to run two guerrilla marketing campaigns at the same time, all filmed for our consumers’ viewing pleasure. We didn’t exactly see ourselves taking this route, especially with the budget constraints at the time, but as I mentioned before, resourcefulness goes a long way towards making the magic happen.

The video that I helped produce ended up being one of the stepping stones to creating even more interactive video content across our social media channels. This is something I aim to develop further.

So keep an eye out for it!

What advice would you give to eCommerce marketers having difficulties reaching out via social media? How can they integrate social media on their website?

Understand your target audience not just in demographics and their interest in your brand, but also in their general, personal interests.

What do they like? What do they care about and enjoy outside of what you market? How does that link back to what your brand has to offer? It’s a difficult and precise sweet spot to hit, but understanding your consumers beyond just what they buy is a key step in connecting with them on a personal level. Give them what they want and care about; they’ll appreciate you for it.

13

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

How To Growth Hack

Your Brand » By Charles Phua

14

Focus

15

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Growing a business is tough work.

Every penny contributes to the growth of your business.

The question is can you hack your growth and make it quick? The answer is yes; you can.

Introduction to Growth Hacking

16

Originally growth hacking was a term used by Sean Ellis in 2010. A growth hacker is primarily interested in growth and does not take the place of the marketer. The growth hacker’s primary object is to increase the growth of the company. Growth hacks are not illegal but strategies which help a business grow. Every strategy planned, tactics and initiative by a growth hacker are done to help the company grow.

Traditional marketers also focus on growth, but it is not their only objective. It is a relatively new concept which mostly applies in the world of startups.

Instead of paying more money to attract a few clients what you can do is focus on projects which can gain you new customers long after its completion. Invest in a growth hack once and you might just enjoy its benefits long after the deal is done. Here are some little hacks of growth that can help you to squeeze more growth from your marketing campaigns.

Improve your site’s speed Nothing turns off customers more than a slow site. A few seconds of delay can make your clients’ loose interest in your site. It is estimated that just by increasing the speed of your site can get 15% to 21% more traffic. With just this one hack you can increase your traffic up by at least 15%. Ideally, your site should load in 2 seconds. It is the most feasible load time which is available at a reasonable cost.

Creating Content or Tools That Goes Viral Going viral is the dream of every marketer. A viral loop starts with five customers, and they bring you five more. The batches of new customers get larger and larger as you go viral.

If your viral coefficient is one that means on an average each customer gets one more customer. Going viral means you have just doubled the effectiveness of every marketing campaign that you would run.

If your viral coefficient is less than one, it means that your growth will stall in a while if you do not level up your marketing efforts. Building a viral loop that works accurately is impossible, but there are ways in which a viral loop can be created.

For example companies like eBay,

Dropbox (shared folders), Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Youtube and Groupon have virility built into the product, and once you start using them, you will suggest that your friends and family register on these sites and join you.

Ridiculous and unthinkable growth can be achieved when your product produces a viral loop.

But viral loops are not always essential for brands; it can sometimes have the opposite effect and turn off your potential clients.

But increasing your viral coefficient from 0.6 to 0.8 is highly advisable. It will not produce a viral loop, but your marketing strategies would give you more positive results.

Example: Airbnb is a website that facilitates vacation rentals between peers, and it has become a billiondollar business. Initially, it was only a robust email campaign in the first growth-hacking stages which helped to boost the website to the next level of success. Airbnb then got involved with the Craigslist spam. Airbnb used Craigslist to find listings of houses for rent and then reached out with this data to the renters to ask them to place their ads on Airbnb instead.

Focus This move earned thousands of users within a short period, and the network went viral. This power of tapping into another already-existing network is what caused a large-scale success and made Airbnb go viral. Airbnb started as a company in 2008 trying to raise $150,000 at a $1.5 million valuation; it’s a company worth millions today. Millions of users book accommodation at Airbnb every season. Below is a chart which shows the sharp growth of users of Airbnb throughout the years after it went viral.

(Diagram taken from: dadavis.com)

Example: Skype has an incredible viral loop, which is ingrained with the product. By Skyping, you encourage other people to use it to stay in touch.

Skype crossed 23 million users within 18 months of its launch. In the last five years, Skype has some 405 million users.

Below is the graphical representation of the increase of Skype users over the year:

(Diagram taken from: Skype Numerology Blog)

17

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Get Your Advocates Raving About Your Product For your products to be universally accepted, they have to be loved by the small group who are your target audience. Geoffrey Moore says in his book that products either catch the attention of the 15% of the audience targeted or they just die. When you launch a new product, inform your target audience first and create a buzz, that way the chances of success becomes higher. The aura of exclusivity around the product attracts more customers and is one of the most successful methods in causing growth. However exclusive products can also cause suspicion and scepticism, it is advisable always to offer a short demo.

18

Keep An Updated Landing Page as Home Page Most visitors do not enter your website through your homepage.

They might come from the pages of your SEO articles. After checking your offers and your marketing efforts, your customers may decide to check your website and land on your homepage. Many customers may not check your entire website, just your homepage. Therefore it is important to design and update your home page on a daily basis. Your potential customers decide to stay or leave depending on your homepage.

It is important for a site to have a well-designed home page which has all the required information and captivates the audience.

Carry Out Regular Customer Reviews Keep track of the amount and types of clients who visit your website and view your products. It is important to keep track of your social media following and number of products being bought by customers. Classify customers according to their age groups, locations, gender, and professions. Design hacking strategies according to this data. Displaying the number of email subscribers, Twitter and Facebook followers on your page attracts more customers.

Example: EchoSign, took eight months for one paid customer to virally ‘create’ another paid customer. This compounded and EchoSign has seen fourth and even fifth generation viral customers over the years.

Leverage on Social Medias That Your Target Customers Are Located At Sites like Quora, Twitter, Facebook, Groupon and Instagram can help you reach the visibility range of a huge customer base. Direct your marketing and hacking efforts to attract the most number of clients on these platforms.

Example: Auto-share on social media websites is a very powerful strategy. Swedish-born streaming music service Spotify went viral by taking advantage of Facebook Open Graph and then flooded newsfeeds and tickers with different music activities and events. This is due to the fact that most people have no problems sharing music. Instead of trying to build a customer base from scratch Spotify integrated their product into the Facebook News Feed. Within six years Spotify has grown to a company worth $10 billion.

This is due the use of social media platforms for promotion. Spotify has revolutionised the way people listen to music.

Spotify has over 50 million active users and 12.5 million paying subscribers.

(Diagram taken from: Quartz.com)

Focus Create Strong Evidence Of Trust With Logos There are many ways to use logos as an efficient hacking tool to encourage growth. You can put up the logos of your biggest customer, logos of products and services your product works with and you can also use the logos of the biggest media sources who have talked about you.

Listing well-known company boost your popularity and help you attract customers.

Hack Your Way To Other’s Assets Facebook has used embeds as an earlier growth hack. They tried this hack to attract 200 million users. Users were given the opportunity to show that they are on Facebook through forums, blogs, websites, etc.

Example: PayPal was a company founded in 1998 and in the year 2003 it became the wholly owned subsidiary of eBay. Seventy percent of all eBay auctions accepted PayPal payments and the company started to rise slowly.

When they partnered with ebay, PayPal was offered as an option next to MasterCard and Visa, and their sales increased at an unbelievable rate.

PayPal is now a billion dollar company. This is the power of growth hacks.

Below are the quarterly payment volumes of PayPal throughout the years since its collaboration with ebay. Certainly, things are working out.

Example: If your product integrates with Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Outlook, put up the logos. Well -known logos generate more interest and trust.

Show An Overwhelming Amount Of Testimonials Real testimonials help customers get over scepticism and trust in your brand. Case studies are a more advanced version of testimonials.

It starts by describing the problem of the customer, then your story on how your product helped the customer along with quotes.

Testimonials and case studies help build trust and reliably which boosts the growth of your business.

(Diagram taken from: paymentsnews.com)

ABOUT THE WRITER

Charles Phua is an entrepreneur who takes calculated risk. In 2012, he started 360 Night & Day. A social-media-marketing digital company that helps SMEs and brands tell their stories and drive their business results.

Currently, he consults and provides marketing advice for companies and brands throughout Asia.

19

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

How Can Social Media

Lead Effective Product Marketing?

20

Feature

» By Nazhath Faheema

21

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Do you spend time on Facebook to learn about products, services or brands? I do not, and I think no one really does according to Global Web Index. Their findings show that the top ten reasons for using social media are linked to interaction and networking. People use social media to stay in touch with friends, meet new people, stay updated with news or current events.

22

Social media usage motivators have always been rather apparent, yet businesses look to social media as a source of customers development. Marketing resources (including marketers times) are spent on creating social media marketing campaigns that only seem to promote brands, services and products. The fact, however, is that you cannot find customers on social media. Marketers need to realise this and avoid correlating social media metrics to customer acquisition and brand engagement objectives.

Societies within Societies Marketers thinking of social media as a marketing channel cannot recognise that they are a mirror of our societies in the real world. Therefore, they are unable to appreciate the sociodynamics therein.

When a 25-year-old female shares a photo of her new Michael Kors purse, she is, consciously or unconsciously, disclosing information about her identity. While she may seem like championing the brand, she is actually vying for the eyes of the online community.

This need for attention is fulfilled with the likes, wows and comments.

The same behaviour and attitude, with some variations, would happen over a dinner gathering to which she brings this new bag. Social media amplifies the inner desire to flaunt our branded belongings.

Social media is, what I would call, societies within societies. Facebook, Instagram and other networking sites comprise of people who want to converse. These platforms are driven by emotions, personality, traits, values, experiences and conventions that are primitive to the human world. This is where you can collect information, at no cost, about the market.

Feature

“

Observing these reactions and listening to the conversation allows us to learn about the characteristics of this market segment.

People Watching and Eavesdropping Recently, I posted a photo of my new hairstyle. There were about 40 comments. Women whose age ranged from 20 to 40 said they loved it. They, too felt it was bold, and they welcomed the change in me. It is noteworthy that a handful of the commentators are Muslim women who wear the headcover.

Observing these reactions and listening to the conversation allows us to learn about the characteristics of this market segment. Tapping into this ‘chatter’ provides some insights into the Muslim fashion market estimated to be worth £226 billion by 2020 . It may facilitate further research for advertising to such audience.

23

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Similarly, a post about Uniqlo’s Hana Tajima 2017 Collection on my Facebook started a conversation about Muslim women in Singapore wanting hoodies that can help them work out in gyms without hassling with the headscarf. It also led the discussion about Halal consumerism growing in Japan because of Olympics in 2020, which paves the way for new product development and positioning.

24

Active dialogues such as these offer such potential for market intelligence, yet businesses underleveraged it. How can, we, marketers create effective marketing campaigns if we do not know the psyche of the people we want to engage with?

Social media is the avenue for data points on the lifestyles, personality, opinions, preferences, underlying values and social clusters. People spend more time with like-minded people with similar interests. Studying these organic interactions facilitates psychographic segmentation that that develop promotional messages that relates with the customer.

Netnography Studies with Content Marketing Netnography, a new branch of ethnography, is a qualitative research method that gathers consumer insights from the online society. It reveals deep psychographics of target market, which helps smarter keyword targeting on SEO and ads. According to Robert V. Kozinets, an assistant professor of marketing at Kellogg Graduate School of Management, it is more naturalistic and unobtrusive compared to focus groups or interviews.

Cleverly crafted content marketing is an effective way to conduct a netnography study. This is because content marketing has an ability to stimulate interest - that is, only if the content is new, relatable and nonpromotional.

Feature

IKEA Singapore’s Facebook post on “very small space” collection is a good example. There was definitely nothing new about IKEA promoting furniture for small spaces. However, it was the timeliness of the content that earned over 3,000 shares.

Tracking the social media stir, IKEA responded to the comments of Singapore’s Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo who said that couples need a very small space to have sex.

Reviewing the comments and the shares from the post, some inferences can be drawn. People shared the post because they were amused. You can observe that the audience were impressed by IKEA’s retort and the brand won a big win among Singaporeans. The amusement among the audience is definitely noteworthy for marketers.

The post was not promotional.

Instead, it appeared to be part of the voice of the community that took an interest in the local socio-political issues.

Generally, such social issues have a high propensity for engagement because the individuals and societies have empathy towards the matter.

ELLE India’s #UnGender series is one good example. Their latest video campaign posted on Facebook page titled “Let Her Be” had over 36,000 shares and 1,400 comments. It has sparked of heating conversations on the women and clothing. While some agree with message in the video, there are also strong views on the need for modesty and decency in clothing. A well-constructed netnography study cross tabled across demographics of the audience will help marketers to plan production positioning. It will also help to decide the tone of marketing campaigns aiming to impact on the disparate market segments in India.

Social Media’s True Value For Marketers Social media’s ability to provide insights about people is the biggest advantage that modern day marketers have. The metrics and psychographic profiles we gather from social media help us to develop a prototype of customers and guides product marketing strategies.

The introduction of Facebook business pages and advertisements has skewed our focus on social media primarily for marketing purposes. We are attracted to the fact that there are 1.8 billion users, who form a pool of customers.

Marketers need to shift from this mindset and realise the true value of social media. Otherwise, we would only be investing late hours into product launch campaigns that leave us with 50 over likes and pressure to boost.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Nazhath Faheema is a branding and marketing professional with over 6 years of experience - specialising in content strategy and development for businesses in B2B, B2C and non-profit sector. She is currently pursing her Masters in Marketing and Consumer Insights at the Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore.

25

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

8 Ways to Reduce the Cost of Content Marketing

26

Guru Talk

Âť By Pamela Wigglesworth

27

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

28

There’s no question that organisations will be monitoring their cash flow and marketing spend at the same time. Just as organisations cut headcount to shave expenses, the marketing budget can also take a big hit as well.

I always encourage companies not to touch the marketing budget.

They should see it like rent… it’s fixed and not to be touched.

Having said that, management is likely to be looking everywhere they can for cost savings.

Content marketing has become one of the pillars of online marketing. Marketers can use it as an effective tool to spread the word about their start-up or SME. More than exposure, content marketing helps you build a reputation as an authority in your industry and contributes to improving your search engine ranking.

Consistently producing goodquality content can add to your marketing costs. Your blog can eat up a lot of content, as do your social media business pages on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn. Fortunately, there are a couple of things marketers can do to reduce the cost of content marketing.

Eliminate duplicate information at a root level Is your marketing content saying the same thing twice?

This can easily happen if your website content, reports and other materials that are being used as a basis for your content marketing have been written by multiple authors without clear guidelines.

Review all these before hiring a content marketing firm and eliminate duplicate information at a root level.

Guru Talk

Re-use existing content If you are like most marketers, by the time you start thinking about content marketing, you already have some essential content on your website and perhaps your blog. This could have been written by you or members of your team. If this content or parts of it are still valuable, re-use it by turning it into social media updates, new posts, or infographics. I’m a big fan of repurposing, so rinse and repeat your content.

Create a content calendar A content calendar enables you to keep track of your content and schedule it in advance.

Map out special periods that require more content and create deadlines so that you always have more content than you actually need. In this way, you eliminate overlapping content and, because you can work with more relaxed deadlines, you can pay lower fixed rates for content.

Work with a company that specialises in content marketing Some companies offer content marketing as part of all-inclusive business services which may include web design, web hosting, app development, and more. While these services can be convenient, if you only need content marketing, you will often get better value for your money choosing a smaller, dedicated provider.

Unlike big providers that often outsource content creation to freelancers or other agencies, small providers do the work themselves. Sometimes it’s nice to have this kind of personal service.

Focus on quality, not quantity Let’s imagine you are launching a new product. Instead of creating extensive product information, documentation, and a wealth of other materials that few people actually read, create a high-quality blog post or social media update.

This will serve three functions in one – it will introduce your product, explain how it works, and market it.

29

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

“ 30

Turn news into marketing Like big businesses, many small businesses like to keep their customers and prospects up to date with new developments and events. That’s a good thing.

However, most of the news stories are tedious pieces of corporate jargon that end up on PR sites that nobody reads. Keep your news items short and simple, and make them human. Add visuals to them to make them easier to understand (not to mention this increases the open rates). Lastly, put any press release that you send out on your website too.

Keep your news items short and simple, and make them human.

Guru Talk

Create similar content at the same time Do you need ten posts for your blog, 20 Facebook updates, and 30 tweets every month? Don’t ask your content provider to do two posts, then 4 Facebook updates, then some more posts, then six tweets, then some more Facebook updates. Order content in bulk, matching your order to your content calendar. In many cases, you’ll be able to get better rates and discounts.

If you are preparing the content yourself, use the content from your blog post for your Facebook post and tweets. Write once and then repurpose the content for posts and tweets.

Do your keyword research first You don’t want to stuff your content with keywords. Yes, keywords are still important, and they help optimise your content for search engines. Find the right keywords for your content or hire someone to do it for it. Then give your content provider a clear list of keywords. Content with keywords is more targeted and brings better value for your money.

In the end it’s good to remember that content marketing can always be tailored to your budget.

Even if you can’t spare that much on marketing, you can still use content marketing in a cost-effective way to make your business more visible online.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Pamela Wigglesworth CSP, is an International Speaker, marketing consultant and Managing Director of Experiential Hands-on Learning. She consults and trains individuals and organisations so they can effectively communicate the value of their products and services to generate greater awareness, increase their leads and ultimately increase their sales. She is the author of Small Business Acceleration: Get Noticed using Facebook, LinkedIn, Email Marketing, Public Relations and Video Marketing.

To learn more about Pamela visit www.experiential.sg or email courses@experiential.sg

31

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Interview with Belinda Ang,

Founder-Director, thinkBIG Communications

32

Labelled as the world’s top 100 social media strategist, Belinda has an innate passion to uncover and bring out the potential of businesses, ideas or people, tapping on disruption of social communication, with a niche in branding and entertainment in Asia. Let’s hear Belinda’s views on the yays and nays of using social media and digital channels as part of her marketing efforts.

What approach would you suggest for companies looking to create a digital customer experience strategy?

I think first and foremost, the definition of “digital customer experience” needs to be clear. Prior to strategy, I would suggest an assessment of the following; Digital framework: Roles and functions of each digital property (e.g. Website, eShop, Social Media profiles, Online Ads)

• Understanding customer journey in the social space by collecting and analysing data points through landscape analysis, social audits and consumer perception studies.

executing a digital campaign or adding cosmetic improvements to their brand’s digital assets (e.g.

Launching an Instagram account or provision of eCommerce).

• Key Performance Indicators aligned with business goals

A strategy can only be effectively executed when a company’s internal process and resource is committed to support this transformation for the long haul.

• Accessibility to measurement tools to support KPIs • Processes and Resources to support such initiative in the long term Far too many companies which intend to launch a “digital customer experience strategy” end up

Is social media helpful for SEO? It used to be, but less so now as social media turns up its noise and Google has decided to tune down on searches from social media sources.

Marketer @ Work

33

the singapore marketer apr-jun’17

Video has long been touted as a must-do in content marketing.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have introduced live video streaming function to their apps. What do you think are the opportunities and challenges Live videos pose to marketers?

34

Video content will continue to dominate the market in 2017, especially with live broadcasting.

With increased access to mobile data and improved technology, consumers are no longer happy with static interactive content. This is, however, more evident for the younger users while the mature users (above 35) may still be more inclined to consume static content or delayed content due to lifestyle.

The challenge obviously had to do with scripting and censorship; being live means that anything unanticipated could happen over its broadcast which is beyond control.

But platforms such as Facebook, has made it increasingly attractive to stream Live Videos as it provides a more advantageous content placement (push notifications and thumbnail window). Platforms like Bigo have also bred a new generation of influencers for their “live shows” which I expect brands to begin engaging as it matures.

We saw Facebook declare that the next digital frontier would center on AI-powered chat bots, do you think chat bots can ever replace apps or even humans?

Can you share a client’s case study of which you encountered greatest challenge in digital transformation? How did you eventually breakthrough?

It highly depends on the tasks.

Engagements that are highly repetitive or predictable will definitely be replaced by bots.

The biggest challenge in digital transformation is digital mindset transformation. Currently, most enterprises approach it from the hardware and software level, introducing omni-channel processes and marketing automation. However, if the organisation’s vision, culture, process and resource do not support these changes, it will usually be met with much resistance at the implementation level. Beyond just training staff to provide them with adequate skill-sets, digital culture on-boarding is also extremely important.

As an integrated Marketing Consultancy company, thinkBIG must have come across clients who want guaranteed ROIs in terms of click through rates, lead numbers and view rates. Can ROIs be guaranteed and why?

Firstly, I must clarify that the above metrics are KPIs and not ROIs. Return on Investment must always align with company goals and objective. So, while KPI metrics contribute to ROI, it is not an ROI. Organic KPI (not bought) cannot be guaranteed. Consumer reactions and behaviours can be estimated based on benchmarks setting, but as with anything in this world involving humans, it cannot be guaranteed.

I would highly recommend clients who have been guaranteed by any agency, give a serious consideration towards such commitment.

Marketer @ Work

“

To gain social media success, brands and the people running these pages or content, must grow a genuine interest in their community and what matters to them.

Social Media channels are commonly used as a platform for promotion and selling. Do you think such strategies will yield good returns in the long term, and why?

I don’t think the issue lies with social media channels. The question that brands or companies need to ask is, what is relevant to their target audience. For example, if you are selling steel rods, having an Instagram account probably isn’t going to do much for your business.

And if this tactic is not backed by a long-term strategy, it will tend to lose its directions and objectives after a while.

What is your blueprint for social marketing success?

While I cannot say I have a blueprint for social media success, I keep by some general rules.

Timeliness and Transparency, Consistency and Concern, Engage and Empathy. To gain social media success, brands and the people running these pages or content, must grow a genuine interest in their community and what matters to them. Also, it is important to keep assessing and measuring because the state of social media changes daily.

How do you keep abreast of the fastchanging nature of social media, and the constant tweaking of algorithms that you need to be aware of?

Honestly, even I lose track of things sometimes as the changes happen so often and so quickly.

New platforms are always sprouting,

and audience is diverging to more niche platforms than mass platform.

I try to read and consume as much information as possible, when new technologies emerge that I may not be very tuned into, don’t be embarrassed to ask questions from the domain experts. It is a world of ever-learning.

What sort of Marketer would you describe yourself as?

I see myself as a T-Marketer. A Marketer with T-shaped skill-sets.

While my forte is in digital, I helm a wide experience in knowledge in other pillars of marketing including events, PR, advertising etc; which allowed me to connect the dots by matching solutions to problems and not confining it to a specific marketing service or expertise. Thus, in thinkBIG Communications, we are really designed to be more solutiondriven than a service provider.

35

WE’RE GOING DIGITAL! Download the full issue of The Singapore Marketer on www.magzter.com

the singapore

marketer knowledge for marketing excellence

What can MIS Membership do for you?

ENTRANCE FEE $150 - FULL WAIVER

Professional Network Networking Events

1 YEARS @ $100

Professional Knowledge Executive Development

2 YEARS @ $170

5 YEARS @ $375

(U.P. $200)

(U.P. $500)

Free OGAWA Aura Mate Personal Air Purifier (worth $69.90)

OGAWA Mobile Massage Seat XE (worth $199)

ADDITIONAL PERKS FOR ALL ORDINARY MEMBERS

(worth $700) 1 x MIS Training Voucher, 2 x MIS Event Passes, 1 x Free OTTICA Eye Check-Up 1 x Atos Wellness Voucher 1 x Lifespa Voucher

Programmes ENTRANCE FEE $500 - FULL WAIVER

Latest Industry Trends Industry Talks • The Singapore Marketer Publication

Exclusive Privileges Members’ Exclusive Deals • Preferential rates for Events/Talks and Courses.

ADDITIONAL PERKS

1 YEARS @ $350

2 YEARS @ $595 (U.P. $700)

5 YEARS @ $1,225 (U.P. $1,750)

FOR ALL CORPORATE MEMBERS

(worth $1,200) 2 x MIS Training Voucher, 2 x MIS Event Passes, 2 x Free OTTICA Eye Check-Up 2 x Atos Wellness Voucher 2 x Lifespa Voucher

Promotion is valid while stocks last. Terms and conditions apply. All prices are subject to 7% GST.

NAME

Steven Tan

MEMBERSHIP NO.

10123

START DATE

01.01.17

EXPIRY DATE

31.12.17

Connecting & Creating Marketers