Segway has done it. So has Nike.
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.
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.
As I struggled with the initial growing pains of running your own digital business, I can’t help but to remind myself that spending on digital media in Malaysia remains ridiculously low. Those in the industry long enough will attest to this fact.
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.
