1. The media is growing at an alarming rate, with new channels and
platforms being announced virtually every month. Yes, Google+, we’ll
be watching. But with that comes the frustration of filtering through
white noise to make sense of it--unless you start on the right foot
Story by Andrew Chow and Adrian Koh
Photography Kaden Hoe
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If communication is an intention to reach out, then media is the
Good communications channel to achieve that. Good media communications is a holy
means good business grail, and most companies hire a bevy of consultants and media
agencies to navigate this chaotic and unforgiving landscape.
How can I gain “Because the purpose of business
Here are two traction in effective is to create a customer, the business
important communications in the enterprise has two - and only two - basic
questions for media landscape, since functions: marketing and innovation.
all business it’s fundamentally “Marketing and innovation produce
leaders and linked to success? results; all the rest are costs. Marketing
brand owners is the distinguishing,unique
How can I make sound function of the business."
to ponder: decisions for my
business? - P e t e r D ru c k er
M i n d i n g th e M ed i u m Humans “look for and are attracted to people who are like
T
[them] in terms of values, interests and experiences” psychologists
Michael Lovas and Pam Holloway explained, in their book Axis of
raditional media has evolved from hieroglyphs of old to
Influence.
multi-billion dollar news networks today.
Collectively, social media users can be a force to be
Before the 21st century, print (newspapers,
reckoned with. Online communities have succeeded in giving
magazines, periodicals) and broadcast media (film,
otherwise obscure brands such as Online communities have
television, radio) were responsible for according brands
given brands like successful online T-Shirt store Threadless.com
social bandwidth. . Companies pay top dollar for the
mainstream presence. Without social media, the pro-democracy
airtime or column inches needed to showcase their brands.
Arab Spring uprising would never have gained the traction it did
Then the digital revolution struck.
so quickly.
The Digital Wave The difference in social media? Live communication. People
once had to search for information; today, information looks for us.
Thanks to huge technological leaps, digital media channels have
transformed mass communications from one-to-many to many-to-
many. Digital media, in the form of social media, have become
hardwired
A major tipping point is the proliferation of mobile devices in the
platforms where brands are merely one voice among billions.
market, such as smartphones and tablets, making information
Consider the advances over the past 20 years: the
more accessible anytime, anywhere. With a small supercomputer,
convergence of information technology and communication
consumers are gestures away from becoming a brand’s best
networks; the popularization and democratization of the Internet;
friend – or its worst enemy.
the easy access and low entry levels to modern communication
The mobile application revolution, spurred by thousands of
technology. Today, it is easier to create, share and consume
startups that create niche mobile services, allows sharing across
information in the digital media space, across demographics and
blogs, microblogs, podcasts, websites, photo sharing and video
psychographics.
sharing sites. With a broad range of content across a variety of
In particular, the advent of social media heralds a new age
platforms, audiences create a “live stream” of digital memories,
of communications, where people are connected through similar
hosted on the web.
interests, rather than similar demographics. Yet what makes social
Increasingly, audiences are welcoming brands to be part of
media successful is not its novelty, but rather how it answers an
their live stream.
inherent human need.
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Asia: A Digital Hotbed
Of Asia represents a massive growth area for digital media.
According to Internet World Stats1, there are about 825 million
Internet users in Asia alone (as of June 2010). This means over
asia
21% of the entire Asian population are plugged in – a dramatic
622% increase from a decade ago.
“Asia is not only home to the largest Internet population
in the world, but it is also one of the fast-growing, said Will
”
o n li n e
Hodgman, Executive Vice President (Asia-Pacific) for comScore,
an Internet marketing research company serving some of the
web’s largest businesses.
“With most markets in the region experiencing double-
digit growth, marketers and advertisers have the opportunity
to capitalize on the potential of the online channel to reach and
engage a surging number of people engaging in a variety of
consumer activities online, including reading content, watching
video, playing online games, engaging with brands, conducting
financial transactions and making online purchases, he added.
”
But while Asia’s digital imprint is on the rise, there is no
“one size fits all” formula across all nations in how they want to be
21%
connected to information on the web.
According to research commissioned by Ogilvy & Mather’s
team of social media specialists in Asia, digital ecosystems are
distinct even among countries with similar levels of development.
South Korea has the world’s highest broadband penetration,
Japan has about 75 million users who access the Internet chiefly
over mobile devices. Indonesia recently overtook the United
o f Asia is
Kingdom to become Facebook’s second largest market. Even co n n ected to th e
China boasts 88 million bloggers despite the Great Firewall,
making up more than a third of the world’s total.
I nter n et
Old Embraces New
By 2010, print media’s deepest fears were realized. Across the
world, many publications saw steep declines in readership. News-
week, once the second-most read magazine after Time, lost more
than half its subscriptions between 2009 and 2010, from 3.1 mil- South Korea
lion to 1.5 million. Online video streaming sites like YouTube and
China’s Tudou led to sharp declines in television viewership.
Adaptation became the order of the day. Hitherto-powerful has the world’s highest broadband
news agencies and television networks are flocking online in an
acknowledgement of the evolution of times.
penetration, Japan has about 75
Many news agencies around the world such as The New million users who access the Internet
York Times, Associated Press and Singapore’s Straits Times
have their own Twitter feeds through which they stream their
chiefly over mobile devices. Indonesia
latest stories. recently overtook the United Kingdom
Television networks such as Singapore’s Mediacorp has
begun posting recently-aired episodes of their free-to-air channels
to become Facebook’s second largest
online, an acknowledgement that viewers no longer wish to be market. Even China boasts 88 million
entirely bound by a fixated schedule.
Yet this does not solely represent a top-down model.
bloggers despite the Great Firewall,
News pick-ups are frequent. Sohaib Athar, a Pakistani IT making up more than a third of the
consultant, live-tweeted the raid in which Osama bin Laden was
killed, resulting in news agencies scrambling to establish his cred-
world’s total.
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ibility and ultimately rely on his tweets for story updates. The Arab discover where their target audiences were.
Spring was another pertinent example, with journalists banned A clear fact is that a win-win climate now involves an inte-
from visiting many parts of Libya and Yemen. grated approach combining the strengths of both traditional and
While these are ominous signs for traditional media, are digital media to engage, retain and win new audiences.
showing that traditional media is not going the way of the dino- A breakout exam-
saur – yet. ple is Old Spice, a line of
Segments of audiences still prefer old-school journalism men’s fragrances and body
and editorials, and this has given a second life to newspapers like wash. The hybrid viral cam-
The Times in the United Kingdom. Digital editions have recently paign by advertising agen-
seen healthy uptakes as these newspapers and periodicals find cy Wieden+Kennedy was
their target markets. launched in 2010, and first in-
volved tongue-in-cheek adver-
Media Integration tisements posted on YouTube.
Perhaps what was needed for traditional media to survive was to A breakout hit, it garnered mil-
find its place in the new media landscape, and making an effort to lions of YouTube views and on-
Traditional
media outlets vs Digital social
media outlets
Have authority, credibility and Facilitate word-of-mouth spreading
recognition of information and opinions online at
the speed of trust
Reaches a broad demographic,
especially the older generation Connect with enthusiastic fans who
are passionate about your brand,
Generate brand awareness building brand ambassadors
through strategic ad placement
Allow instant feedback that brands
5 Wall Street Daily: Social Networks Just Crushed “Old Media”…
And This New Paradigm is Here to Stay (http://www.wallstreetdaily.
can act on to improve
com/2011/05/03/social-networks-replace-old-media/)
Allow pilot testing of new ideas
with targeted audiences before a full
th e n ew yo r k ti m es launch
>1 0 0,0 0 0
Sustain a longer campaign through
consumer-generated conversations,
which are perceived as more
o n li n e su bscr i pti o n s as o f authentic and current
A pr i l 2011
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5. massive m ed ia
line buzz that eventually led to coupon deals, media in-
terviews and Twitter engagement. Following the cam-
paign, the brand recorded a whopping 107% increase
in sales.
The concerted effort to engage audiences with
a simple big idea that men can be sexier with a body
wash led to the sharp spike in sales.
nav i gati n g th e m ed ia
P
erhaps what was needed for traditional
media to survive was to find its place in the
new media landscape, and making an effort
to discover where their target audiences
were.
Audiences now expect integrated
communications: they want to be spoken to (traditional
media), they want to speak out and speak with brands
(digital and social media)
Engagement Is The Difference
It is no longer enough to sell straight to the customer.
In 2010, an IBM consumer survey found that
consumers wanted retail brands to be more interactive
Engaging Generation Y
and engaging online.
The survey, which involved 32,000 online
consumers from China, India, United States, Canada,
The Generation Y, born during the late
Brazil and United Kingdom, showed that the modern 1970s to 2000, were the first to fully adopt
shopper is smarter and more informed through
product discussion and information consumption via
digital and social media as a lifestyle. As a
Facebook and Twitter. result, brands started to engage with them,
Consumers want to talk to brands too. 75% of
the respondents said they want to be informed where
designating popular online influencers into
the nearest store is while 68% want to be able to brand ambassadors. These virtual celebrities
know if an item is in stock via their mobile phones.
79% of shoppers also want the option of printing
endorse these brands by integrating them into
coupons from websites. their lifestyle.
“It’s a smarter consumer out there, one who
is really willing to engage with the retailer, explained
” For example, LG in Singapore recruited
Shannon Miller, a business development leader for
IBM’s Global Business Services, “retailers can tailor
7 notable individuals in social media to
their strategy for each of these technologies to address contribute a story of their lives for 7 weeks
what the consumers are asking them to do. ”
“We are in a shopper’s market today, because
revolving around its new product, the LG
consumer access to technology and information gives Optimus 7. As these people hail from all walks
them all the power, said Jill Puleri, a global industry
”
retail executive at IBM Global Business Services.
of life, they strike a chord with the man-on-
the-street, creating strong interest in LG’s
range of smartphones.
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Strategizing Communications
Through Content
01 02 03
Original content Co-created Content User-generated Content
With social media, anyone A result of collaboration The most creative and
who can create unique with brand ambassadors convincing type of content is
content holds the power of who identify with the brand also the type that business
broadcasting. Business- and thus contribute co- leaders must accept they
owners now share the owned content, which bears hold no control over. Such
online space with their the mark of both the brand content is representative
target audience. Original and the user. Businesses of the user’s perception
content, such as advertising may exert some degree of of the brand rather than
campaigns, will be picked control over such content. the rigid confines of its
up and shared among predetermined elements.
audiences. The focus is on The focus is on the brand’s
communicating your brand’s popularity.
values and promise to the
audience.
“Retailers cannot afford to sit still as this digital revolution The old mantra goes that “the customer is king” And the
.
happens. They must engage plugged-in consumers in new and king wants to have a conversation.
different ways, on their terms, and with more bi-directional
feedback and dialogue. ” The Right Mix
The IBM survey also showed that if retailers could provide A comprehensive media strategy is a hybrid of traditional and
more interactivity through customized promotions or ensuring social media to reach target audiences effectively.
product availability, 61% of Many brands have discovered that a long-term, sustained
consumers are willing to spend social media strategy that runs alongside a traditional media
more. campaign pays dividends in terms of both drawing eyeballs
IBM found that emerging and building loyalty with customers. Global cruise liner Royal
market consumers of India, Caribbean’s efforts to engage popular bloggers online has
China and Brazil are almost consequently raised its profile in Singapore. Paired with a strong
twice as willing to use multiple promotional campaign, Royal Caribbean has secured a sizable
technologies for shopping and mindshare and brand recognition in the country.
making purchases, highlighting Evidently, a campaign that opts for one form of media
the huge uptake in new exclusively over the other will miss out on opportunities that a
technologies there. hybrid strategy can give. There are some key considerations in
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Distinctive Features of Traditional Media
And Social Media
traditional media social media
power Pitching Engaging
Spinning Conversation
Reporting Sharing
influence Press Conference Social Networking
Campaign Collaboration/Feedback
Authority Authenticity
reach News Sharable Content
Circulation Community
Database Network
deciding the right balance, including brand communications leaders may want to consider hiring a community manager
objectives, level of commitment to customer engagement, and a dedicated solely for this.
risk appetite for failure. 4. Competitive Insights Invest in third party monitoring
platforms to audit your competitors. Be aware of their progress
Restructure For Success and latest social media strategy Provide at least a monthly update
Be open to changing management structures and acquiring of competitive insights to key managers in terms of share of voice,
resources to support a strong hybrid media strategy. Here are key conversations and topics that target audiences are discussing
eight steps that will help you prepare a sound strategy for your heavily.
organization. 5. Staff and Resources Form a strategic task force across
1. Senior Management Support There must be a different business units within your organization headed by your
commitment to social media as a long-term priority. C-level head of communications, who must be well versed in social media.
executives must contribute content for social media, particularly The chief role of this task force is to provide quick turnarounds for
when responding to crises. Internal feedback is just as important communication objectives, particularly during crises. Many experts
as those from your customers. in the market can provide consultancy to audit and structure this
2. Social Media Knowledge Decision makers must team, together with proper training and contacts to upgrade the IT
understand the different social media channels and decide which systems internally to support this.
are most suitable to the organization. They will need to engage 6. Channel Prioritization Your social media strategy
communication industry leaders through peer groups and needs clear and measurable objectives, targets and initiatives.
conferences to familiarize themselves with latest developments. Analyze and prioritize your channel options and engage the most
3. Customer Engagement Apart from customer feedback feasible ones. Do not go for a broad, shotgun approach as this
forms and “contact us” links on your website, create your social will make strategies less effective in transmitting a brand’s or
presence online through networking sites where your target business’s message.
audience already resides. Engage your customers on a personable 7. Process Documentation When incorporating and
manner. Contribute positively and moderate discussions. Business integrating social media into your marketing mix (product launches,
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8. massive m ed ia
marketing plans, customer service etc), develop a project plan
comprising editorial calendars for content, publishing deadlines
and update schedules, among other key communications activities.
What Social Media
8. Measurement and Governance Third party monitoring Analysis Will Yield
tools can measure activity and conversations online. This will
be helpful to track and monitor progress and evaluate key
performance indicators (KPIs). You can also keep up-to-date with
how employees, contractors, prospects and customers are talking
Learn what people are saying about you
about you. Also develop an internal social media usage policy in
the organization for employees, contractors and vendors.
Create buzz for events & campaigns
The Future of Social Media Increase brand exposure
It is important to continually observe shifting audience trends to
determine which platforms they are gravitating toward. A few have
Identify and recruit influencers to
emerged in the mainstream over recent years: spread your message
1. Social Gaming Gamification, a new and exciting
discipline in social engagement is gaining steam. This involves Find new opportunities and customers
deploying game mechanics often seen in computer or console
games to non-game activities to make these activities fun and Support your products and services
engaging. Part-art and part-science, gamification is the next leap in
consumer engagement. Improve your search engine visibility
2. Mobile Meta Optimization (MMO) Going mobile is
essential for businesses and brands in the 21st century. Today, Gain competitive intelligence
mobile is the fastest way to take your business global and personal
at the same time. Get your message out fast
3. Advanced Streaming The need for real-time updates
has made Twitter the choice platform for breaking news. Users
accustomed to instant information will seek high fidelity and
quality streaming to satisfy their need for immediate access to
on-demand content.
4. Interactive Lifestyle It is not enough to spread your
key message or unique selling proposition through marketing,
advertisement or promotion. Brands will need to cater for instant
feedback to their messages, and responses must be swift.
Strategies such as customer relationship management (CRM) and
the sales management process must be constantly reviewed to
ensure satisfactory levels of interactivity.
Reaching Out
Have fun engaging your audiences. While there is no textbook
formula that will fit all brands, such measured risks will pay off
multi-fold dividends as your brand gains traction through effective
communications. Sustaining an online presence, aside from
the quintessential website is a key journey to engage your key
audiences, and discover where they are holding conversations
with each other and participate in them.
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