And soon in Malaysia, one brand will once again be at the forefront in the creation of yet another social networking site.

But why another social networking site when you have such a plethora of already existing sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Orkut and Ruumz?

Shooting off the hips here – my opinion on this matter is fairly straightfoward: You can’t sell a product through a social network, you are merely creating a platform for like-minded individuals to converge and share ideas, stories, gossips and even to know one another. That pretty much sums up the gist of what social media networking is all about.

What your brand stands to benefit though is the continued relevance and visibility to answering the needs of these group of people – which in all accounts, shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve since the product or service you sell is the enabler to their needs. But remember that a brand’s social networking site provides the platform for sharing experiences, not for the brand to tout its products or services – because your corporate website would have all the product and services related information there.

However, above all, the brand also needs to understand that these group of people may already have profiles at other social networking sites and the bigger challenge here is how to leverage on their already existing networks from there. UGCs should be the staple content here.

And last but not least – please….be Web 2.0 relevant. RSS, widgets, social bookmarking, Twitter and the whole nine yards. After all, it’s a social networking site, not a portal.

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Good tool for internal communications and even as a marketing tool. But let’s face it, none are all too candid. It’s like a elaborate staged reality show where the outside world gets to read mostly good stuffs while the really damaging stuffs are handled behind closed doors.

Nothing wrong really here. It’s what the world of communications is all about within the context of a brand or a company.

Anyway, I’m not about to go into the virtues of corporate blogging – but what about doing corporate or brand blogging by actually asking members of public to spend say a couple of weeks deep in the boiler room of a company or marketing department and actually blog about it?

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What Malaysians Searches On Google In 2008

Notwithstanding that 2008 was mostly a year of heavy political overtones – what interests me are the few brands that stood out.

The one that pique my interest is Gamuda Berhad.

Gamuda Berhad is involved primarily in construction, property development and concessions. One of their biggest corporate moves in 2008 was the formation of Gamuda Land Vietnam Limited and the building of the Yen So Park. With an estimated GDV (gross development value) of RM8 billion over 8 to 10 years, the park is said to include a convention centre, commercial facilities, a five-star hotel, residential units and parkland on 327 hectares around Yen So Lake in the south of the city.

Many will remember Gamuda Berhad for their Kota Kemuning project, almost single-handedly built that township from ground zero and weathered through the 1998 financial crisis. Way before the rest of the herd along the likes of Mah Sing Group came in much later to bank on the lands around the area.

Much like how Subang Jaya is associated with Sime Darby, Kota Kemuning is Gamuda. Building a township – takes a lot of guts for a property developer to do just that. With it comes the price of inherent branding and the question of how much would you pay to build a brand.

A good brand will continue build through the bad times. That’s what a leader would do. That’s what Tony Fernandez has commited to do. That’s what Francis Yeoh recently did. And that’s what Gamuda has built over the years. And Google Zeitgeist 2008 shows just that.

Which brand would shine in 2009′s Zeitgeist?

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Idris Jala in The McKinsey Quarterly

The man has stood up to some tests of his own. Take a read (registration to the site might be required). Or you may download the PDF.

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Digital media, or in it’s various permutations that it’s known (new media, interactive, online, web, etc) – is often looked upon by many a client simply as setting up a microsite, create a couple of web banners here and there and buying up a couple of keywords on Google. Throw in analytics and you pretty much get what the digital medium offers in it’s most basic form.

That is as good as it gets for the client. Anything beyond that, they cringe.

The eternal battle between the agency and the client is almost always on the issue of the digital media accountability. Top this off with the “wait-and-see” attitudes of most brand owners, you’ll find that here in Malaysia few and far good brands actually has a solid digital strategy to get their business and brands online.

Very few local brands is able to plan and execute a total digital strategy in it’s entirety. Fewer still actually even dared to ask for a digital media schedule.

AirAsia will and continue to lead this space for a while. They’ve embraced the medium.

As for the rest – listen to your digital agency. And ask for more than just a microsite, web banners, keywords and analytics.

Let’s start making the “almost 1%” digital spending in the forecasted RM6 bllion Malaysian Adex to “a little over 1%” in 2009.

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