Wiki of digital media in Asia

I came across this very handy resource - a wiki of all things digital and social media in Asia - called Digital Media Across Asia.

It's very comprehensive with markets reports, examples and breakdowns by country. Given that Asia has 500 million internet users - almost half the global internet population - its definitely worth checking out.

Building or renting communities

Listening to the recent Media Hacks podcast, the discussion was around brands and communities. The essence was that brands can either rent, buy or build communities. My two penneth is that a brand that builds its own, ends up with a strong, active and loyal community that is a huge asset to its growth e.g. Zappos.

A brand that rents or buys someone else's e.g. via bloggers, has to give something of value to the community, but the danger is that the brand's engagement only lasts as long as the thing they've given has value e.g. blogger engagement campaigns by WalMart, Dorritos SuperBowl initiative.

However, it is difficult and takes time to build your own community. Zappos didn't do it overnight [I think it was 1-2 years]. Mitch on the podcast reckoned it was best to build a community when you didn't need one, rather than try to build one when you do. I wholeheartedly agree, but sometimes it is difficult to persuade your boss/client to spend lots of time and effort on building something that doesn't fulfill a short term need.

I guess the answer to that is say 'look at Zappos and Beinggirl'.

Spreadability vs Stickiness

I heard on FIR podcast a new word, which I really liked: Spreadability.

Spreadability is about making content easy to share and spread online. Its not viral, where viral is creating something that a large amount of people send on. It's more about creating something that you would want to send to a friend, embed/post on your blog, tweet about. It's smaller scale and more about something that appeals to a certain group of people who have a common interest i .e. a target audience.

The word was used in the context of being the new stickiness - i.e. a few years back, everyone was trying to make a website that was extremely sticky. The goal being to keep people on your site for as long as possible.

In the social age, it's not about driving traffic to your site and gluing them to it; it's about creating something of value that people will want to spread through their network. Well, that's what I reckon.

I'm not normally a big fan of buzz words, scoffing at them whenever possible, but I do like this one. And so, will be appropriating it for my own use. [I have resisted the considerable urge to use margarine related metaphors, but please feel free to apply liberally.]

Twitter goes Yoof

A new report out by Pew Internet shows that more young people are using Twitter. The micro-blogging service is now the second youngest social networking site with an average age of 31.

Of the top 4, MySpace is the youngest with an average of 26. [Bebo wasn't including in the research, otherwise I reckon that would be the youngest]. Facebook has matured, the av age going from 26 in 2008 to 33 in 2009. I wonder of this was due to its international expansion?

Linked In has the oldest members - av age of 39, which you'd kind of expect.

It wasn't so long ago that research was saying that Twitter was the domain of old farts like myself. I'm sure there are loads of socio-psychological reasons for this, but I can't help thinking that the main driver could be the influx of celebs using Twitter. Celebs start using Twitter and their young fans follow.

Naturally, I feel like my dad when I'm writing this and I have to fight the urge to say

'I remember when it was all geeks' .

Social pooing

Charmin, the loo roll maker, have come up with a..well... I'm not sure what adjective to use to describe the idea, but it definitely isn't shit [sorry:)].

In a campaign called Enjoy The Go, Charmin is recruiting five loo ambassadors to meet and greet toilet goers during the Christmas period in Times square, NYC, and then blog about the experience. The ambassadors get $10K each for doing the job. I shit you not!

I love the line "All candidates must really really enjoy going to the bathroom"

I mean, what do you say at the interview to explain how or why you really really enjoy going to the bathroom? I really helps me think and problem solve when I'm having a good dump? Or I just like it for the crosswords?

Toilet humour aside it's an interesting project and I will be intrigued to see how it turns out. Although, I can't help thinking what the objectives are and if they measure input, output and outcome.

Glove Love: The Green Thing

Really cool initiative by Do the Green Thing called Glove Love. The eco friendly social media gang at DTGT are collecting single gloves from around the country and pairing them with other single gloves and selling them on for a fiver.

It's a great example of doing something really simple and smart to cut back on wastage.

Marketing to digital youth conference

I was lucky enough to attend the Marketing Magazine conference on Marketing to Digi-savvy Youth. There was a lot of focus on social media, as you'd expect, and lots of talk about 'losing control of your brand', having an authentic voice, listening to the audience first. Which was all well and good, but kinda stating the obvious.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed [although this could have been because I was slightly jaded from getting up at 5.15 to catch the train down, there being no usable wifi at the conference and no hashtag]. Although, for a conference about marketing to 15-24 years olds, the youngest presenter was 30. I thought there might have been some young people present to give there thoughts.

However, there were a few notably exceptions. Mark from Durex had some excellent insights [but I guess I would say that, Durex being a client] and I picked up some pointers from LastMinute.com's social media manager. I've put together my top ten below [in no particular order]:

1. At the heart of all successful strategies is content that people want. This was illustrated by Conde Nast use of a backstage video of Lily Allen getting ready for the GQ photo shoot [sadly not embeddable]. Everton FC had similar success by using exclusive content such as player interviews.
2. Getting celebrities involved in marketing to youth is still hugely successful, perhaps even more so now that celeb content can be shared online e.g. Alliance & Liecester's use of bucket loads of stars such as Danny Cipriani and Trevor Nelson.
3. Find the things people are passionate about and work out a way to link your brand to those passions e.g. using music to connect with people as per Glamour magazine.
4. Be prepared to make mistakes and learn from them. You are not going to get it right all the time.
5. Paid for media owners and traditional advertisers seem to be embracing the power of earned media, natural conversations and authentic advocacy. There was lots of discussion about creating a stream of stories throughout the year, rather than running campaigns - a traditional PR approach.
6. Reward fans and followers of your brand. Don't just bring them in and try and sell them stuff, give them stuff they really value for being fans and getting involved with your brand.
7. The biggest challenge with social media and conversation campaigns is dedicating the resources. Lastminute.com seemed to have got it right by employing an experienced blogger as their dedicated social media manager.

OK, so it's not exactly ten, but top seven, just doesn't quite sound right.