A Social Media Valentine's Day

...to all you boyfriends who might forget this day, here's a little something from which you could take social media tips from. And, to all you single people out there who needs reminding that it's always a hassle to be in a relationship (hehe!). Stay awesome and, again, happy Valentine's day!

2011 Predictions: On Social Media (or how consumers will be by the end of the year)

What does 2011 hold for the lot of us digital marketers? The presentation which follows takes us through a narrative of how consumers are most likely to define themselves in 2011..

7 '11 Social Media Predictions (or how we will be defined by the end of the year)

View more presentations from Aviel "Acee" Charles Vitangcol.

...and, with that, how are we then called to respond?

---

My own presentation got me thinking (talk about narcissism), if this was a deck reported to clients from different industries and had to come up with a major business decision based on this, how would they react?

1. "Have the virtual goods department work triple shifts this year! I want my brand stamped on every virtual crop, shop, and lot out there!" Worth over $7B globally, the social gaming industry has had it made thanks to consumers who take their gaming seriously. And why not when it addresses most of their social media needs in one go! It feeds them what they want (hyper personalization) when they want it (rewards prioritization) in a manner that contributes to their online persona (digital reinvention). Consumer don't just plant virtual crops, they make sure that their plot looks and feels complacent to their identity. They don't wait out the minutes to have another round, rather they pull out time just because they need to get ahead of the game. What are you doing about it? (Still not convinced? Head over here and here. UPDATE: You may also read up on why consumers get hooked to games - in this case, Angry Birds - from a neuroscience POV here.)
2. "...but make sure to put a social slant in there somewhere. Maybe a call against child labor or overworked farmers or something." Remember that time your Facebook wall was filled with images of Sailormoon, Daimos, and Little Lulu in support for the fight against child abuse? Turned out, it worked after all. The social slant might just have been thrown into the mix (as rumored) but it managed to get people talking (and donating) in 2010 - the year when other social good campaigns have either fizzled or boomed. The start of the year bore witness to Pepsi's Refresh Everything campaign. It was also the year when celebrities "died" and Google sold Chrome the social good way. Of all three (not including Pepsi as they seem to have a niche audience compared to all other campaigns, though you can read on more about why the campaign made waves here), I'd have to say that it was Google's Chrome for a Cause that managed to clamber into the consumers' consciousness. (The Facebook cartoon character profile was somehow immeasurable and celebrities were revived largely by a huge sum from a single donor.) What happened? Consumers want to help (digital activism) in the easiest way they could possibly do it (rewards prioritization). The Facebook profile picture change became a meme because it was fairly simple: you change your profile picture and post a status about it. Chrome for a Cause had it way easier: you download an extension and open tabs. The celebrity deaths? They just wouldn't be bothered by something mainstream (mainstream aversion). After all, these celebrities are rich enough to pay their way into reviving themselves.

---

Want to read more on what other social media sites are saying about the future of digital? Click here for Mashable's roundup.

+This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

A Merry Digital Christmas to Everyone!

...and, with that, I share with you the Christmas story retold (twice, in this post) in a manner the geeky social media using lot of us could relate to. Enjoy and, again, a blessed Christmas to everyone!



Oh, and while we're at it, why not track Santa with a little help from our friends in NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and Google? Don't forget to bring out the cookies. We wouldn't want Santa to slim down one bit. After all, what would the reindeers have for resistance exercises if Santa pares down his weight? Think about that.
---UPDATE: Read more on what happened behind the scenes upon release of the Nativity Story viral video here.

CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on e-Ethics

Let's talk about ethics. I remember being asked (in one of my Theology classes) by our professor if its morally wrong to shove sharp metal objects into someone's gut with the intention of cutting it open. Most would say that it is. But, isn't that the same thing surgeons do to save the lives of their patients?

Discussions on ethics are rarely black and white and, at best, they remain dependent on the context at which an action called into question is in as well as the consequences that could and would take place if said action is undertaken. This goes for marketing as well - be it digital or not.

Marketing, as a whole, always bore the brunt of ideologically* two opposing elements: money and people. Marketing involves business and business has one major bottomline - profit. But, sometimes, the need to profit often go beyond the need to be just and fair and, most often than not, people are unaware that they have crossed the line.

Online, it gets a little more complicated.

There are already regulations and codes of ethics in place when it comes to marketing. However, there are those that have yet to touch on new media. The evolution of the internet was more than fast for regulators scrambling to catch up and it's not a very pretty sight. (UPDATE: Perhaps a gleaming example would be the FDA's take on pharmaceutical companies wading through unregulated social media waters. Read more here and here.)

So, where does one actually begin dissecting the rules of ethics online?

1. Truth well told**. As marketers, we are able to excite our consumers and tickle their fancy in so many ways. We tell stories and, in every story, we know that we hit each and every weakpoint that pushes them towards purchase. A cup of coffee is not just coffee, it's an experience. A shoe is not just a shoe, it's a lifestyle. But, to convince consumers to act according to what you intend them to do is far different from manipulating the truth in order to do so.
2. Respect. To be the bearer of information entails a semblance of being fair towards all groups of people be it in terms of gender, race, class. Of course, marketers have biases for their target demographic but it should not come as a means to harbor hate towards other demographics.

*I say ideologically as most people have latched on to the idea that money is the root of all evil and, at a long jump, evil corrodes the very being a person ought to become. Ayn Rand gives an alternative view on the matter saying that it's not necessarily so. Again, ethics is never black and white.
**McCann Erickson uses this as a slogan.
+This post is part of the CDMP Week series, a week-long series of blog posts aimed at explaining digital marketing strategies through offline analogies. This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Social Networks

I'd like to start this entry off with a hodgepodge of infographics just to wean you into the discussion. Do click for maximum effect (hehe!).

Visual Economics

SocialBakers via Mashable

If it hasn't been discussed enough in the infographics above, let it be known from here on out that Facebook has now become a force to be reckoned with. If it were a country*, it would have been the third largest, nestled just between India and United States!  In fact, comScore (via Mashable) claims that web users are now spending more time in Facebook than Google, Yahoo, or any other internet what-have-yous out there.

But, what exactly does a social network imply for marketers? Before we go into that, it's best to fully understand what social networks are in its very essence. Perhaps, sociology would be most apt in this discussion. Embedded below is, as the description claims, "a watered down explanation of what social networks are and how marketers could take advantage of such".

SOCIAL NETWORKS (and why it's such a big deal to marketers)

View more presentations from Aviel "Acee" Charles Vitangcol.

I'd like to use Sophia, Aling Nena's target market, in this discourse.

We could assume that Sophia, being a college student, is part of a barkada that interacts on a daily basis. They eat out together, watch movies together, go to parties together, and do normal barkada things together. In this regard, said barkada sans Sophia is part of Sophia's social network. How Sophia relates to her barkada is called social capital - crudely the value which Sophia obtains from the social network - slash, why Sophia is in the barkada in the first place (perhaps, because they belong to the same block or they have the same breaks). With this setup, it's likely that Sophia influences and is influenced by her barkada in terms of so many things. How Sophia manages her time, what Sophia eats in between classes, where Sophia takes her naps (it happens! I take mine in the library, thanks to my barkada's recos)...

*cue Japanese corn stall brand analogy*

...how Sophia perceives Japanese corn stalls, where Sophia buys Japanese corn, what Sophia is saying about corn by-products, how Sophia wants a service delivered - these are the things which enable her and her barkada as potential brand ambassadors for Aling Nena (and competitors)!

Now, how would Aling Nena benefit from such an arrangement?

1. Research. Social networks are good fodder for actionable insights when it comes to how people act out their day to day lives. Note that social networks empower consumers in a number of ways, one of which is through the gift of gab. Every gabbing consumer out there is bound to touch on a specific industry, product, or brand in a very public manner at that. Should Aling Nena immerse herself in what Sophia and her friends are talking about when they talk about food, corn, or Wakarima-corn, Aling Nena would have had an idea of how her consumers move around in the industry from which to base major business decisions should there be a need to.
2. Consumer Engagement. Of course, to be immersed in a social network does not just give Aling Nena the power to, uhm, eavesdrop but also the capacity to talk to Sophia and her barkada. This opens up a lot of opportunities for Aling Nena, especially when the ball drops and a detractor suddenly unleashes bad PR on her. Aling Nena could easily nip it in the bud before it starts growing.
3. Brand Awareness. Lalala. 

Perhaps, as an off-topic takeaway (because it just has to be said), what's also worthy of note is how everything digital has penetrated much of everyone's consciousness and lifestyle that the power once yielded by marketers pre-web 2.0 are now in the hands of consumers the likes of Sophia. One blog post, one tweet, one Facebook status could very well be the kryptonite that could ruin Superman brands out there. All that PR and brand building could only go as far as making sure that consumers are held up to a pedestal sans the bull**** that (usually) comes with it.

---
UPDATE: Philippine Daily Inquirer claims that Facebook is poised to take over Google's supremacy. How this will all play out in the future would be very much interesting, especially in terms of how Google would set out to pull out all innovative means just to keep its head above water.

*For more "if Facebook was a country" trivia fun, click here and here!
+This post is part of the CDMP Week series, a week-long series of blog posts aimed at explaining digital marketing strategies through offline analogies. This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Search

Search has become part and parcel of our daily lives as most of the information we get from the internet we usually get through search. And, this does not merely limit itself to our digital self but our entire being, as what Google’s famous “Search Stories” ad (click to create your own! This is fun, trust me!) drives at.

But, how does it actually play into marketing? In order to fully understand this, one has to look at how Google (and other search engines) work. For one, whenever you type in a keyword, Google returns a list of pages in response to your search and you are most likely to click on the links on the first page, if not just the ones on top of said page. After all, why would you have to go through the effort of going to the 27th page or the 5,723rd link when you know that the first links are most likely to be more relevant than those somewhere last? As a marketer, therefore, your ultimate goal is to reach the top of the heap in order to gain more ogling eyes. Or, at the very least, gain headway in the list than your competitors and/or detractor. Time to call in Aling Nena.

Wakarima-corn has long settled in the long stretch of Katipunan Avenue among a number of other Japanese corn stores. Now that Aling Nena has gained a following among the community and with the Yuletide season fast pulling in tourists, it’s high time she decided to take advantage of the situation. Katipunan Avenue is known for its Japanese sweet corn but, most certainly, the tourists went there for the corn and not for any specific store. So, what to do? There are two ways for Aling Nena to take advantage of this influx of searchers:

1. Search Engine Optimization. Aling Nena has gained a steady following among her loyal buyers in the community and, with that, she’s more than confident that a handful of them would ultimately lead searchers to her. The more trusted* loyal buyers she has, the higher chances are that searchers would be able to discover her little stall. SEO works the same online. Your website’s organic rank is determined (partly) by the number of trusted* sites which link back to your website. The higher the number of trusted* sites linking back to you, the higher the chances that you’ll be on top of the search results page.
2. Paid Search/Search Advertising. Aling Nena, despite having lots of loyal buyers remains undiscoverable. So, she resorts to rallying a few of her minions to distribute Wakarima-corn flyers to the tourists. Online, marketers and brands resort to this same tactic through paid search where they bid on a certain keyword so that they could appear in the search results page. Note that this is targeted inasmuch as marketers only pay to advertise to people who search for a certain keyword. In Aling Nena’s case, her minions know full well that they are only to give flyers to tourists and/or people on the lookout for Japanese corn.

*I put emphasis on this as certain search engines put weights (crudely defined) on sites in terms of their relevance. You're most likely to gain more momentum in organic search when Mashable links to you than when a geocities page (one that you built yourself) links to you. Offline, you could see this as that huge divide between President Obama and Aling Nena's son endorsing Wakarima-corn. Sure, most people would believe Aling Nena's son but President Obama would be able to pull more attention towards Wakarima-corn.
+This post is part of the CDMP Week series, a week-long series of blog posts aimed at explaining digital marketing strategies through offline analogies. This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Websites

Being the web surfers that we are, we are ultimately aware of the fact that every little thing we do online we do through websites. Hence, digital marketing, it being digital, would (almost) always be in need of a website. Even the most crafty ones who make it seem that they don’t have a website managed to lay claim on spots which could be defined, rather crudely perhaps, as websites albeit being nested within a larger website. (I’m looking at you, BooneOakley*. Yay for you!)

Before we proceed, let’s look at an offline example first. Aling Nena is a Japanese corn seller looking for a place to sell her wares. She finally decides on setting up a little stall along Katipunan Ave. In Quezon City where a lot of Japanese corn sellers have taken post in as well. She built it and, no, they didn’t come. Why? Surely enough, the blame is on the competition, not because they can offer slightly better Japanese corns rather there’s just too many of them adding up to the clutter. The Ateneo students that she wants to buy from her are not buying because, with a whole slew of corn stalls (and even other non-corn food stalls) out there, she’s simply waiting for them to chance by her stall. Aling Nena’s in deep trouble...

...and you are, too, if you operate on a “build it and they will come” philosophy. Much like the avenue where Aling Nena took post, the internet is cluttered with so many stalls – websites – out there. And, it’s not just websites on Japanese corn but a whole enchilada of other corn products (corn bits, buttered popcorn, corn on the cob), not to mention, non-corn products (corned beef, corned tuna, airplanes, shooting stars). The moment your buyer – your target consumer – goes online, all he’ll ever see is an awful lot of information but little, if none, of those you want him to see.

So, if you were Aling Nena (or Mang Boy, if you prefer to be male in this example), what could you do?

1. Brand Awareness. Wave and scream like crazy! Make sure that your voice is heard from among the clutter. Let them know that you exist and that you’ve got something that they might want. And, most importantly, don't allow yourself to be buried under all of the information available to your consumers. Dig your way out of the heap!
2. Consumer Engagement and User Experience. Make it a memorable experience for your visitors. Set up shop with carnival attractions or plain and simple talk with your buyers. Engage your consumers and, ultimately, they will be the ones doing all the waving and screaming for you.
3. Call to Action. Now that they’ve toured your stall and experienced Aling Nena’s Wakarima-Corn, one last thing you have to do is... sell! Or, urge them to act on whatever goal you want to achieve. Are you after sales? Then, sell! Are you after generating buzz? Then, ask them to spread the word.

*BooneOakley is an agency which found a home in YouTube where all of its website’s content are hosted in the video-sharing site. Through this effort, they've been recognized by a number of institutions such as the Webby Awards. You can visit their site at booneoakley.com or be a fan of their Facebook page here.
+This post is part of the CDMP Week series, a week-long series of blog posts aimed at explaining digital marketing strategies through offline analogies. This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Email Marketing

Digital marketing has had its share of the limelight as an emerging strategy in terms of reaching out to consumers. But, despite the hype and clamour that surrounds it, most people remain unaware of the many touchpoints that digital marketing has to offer. My involvement in the Digital Marketing Diploma Program says it all. Most people would ask me about it and, once I get through my rather lengthy explanation of how digital marketing works, they’d always answer, “Aaah! Pagbenta sa Facebook!”.

Surely enough, Facebook has become a common digital marketing avenue but to limit oneself within the confines of fan pages – what with the availability of so many options (this is the internet we’re talking about, people!) out there – would just be downright immoral! Build it and they most certainly won’t come. Not unless you rally your troops to knock on every door of your target demographic just to say your spiel. That proved effective, mind you.

I remember waking up to two pastors knocking at our house in the province, asking if they could have a moment to talk to us about God. My grandmother would always insist not to let them in because she knew deep down that they had the capacity to hypnotise her into being swayed into their religion. This was because she knew that she would find it hard to say no to any hard sell if she ever allowed them into her house, just like the time she allowed a door-to-door jeweller to, uhm, hypnotize her into buying gold bracelets every single time he comes to visit.

In that example alone, you get to gleam the power of good old direct selling and how you could work it to your advantage:

• Personalization. Nanay Amy from the Poblacion wants it told to her straight while Tatang Selyo in the barrio wants it adorned with tales from his past. Each consumer behind every door is different and for you to know how and why this is important makes all the difference.
• Consumer Engagement and Loyalty. You get to look straight into Nanay Amy’s eyes (and her eyes alone) and say “Suki, bagay talaga sa iyo ‘to. Bilhin mo na! Tiwala ka naman sa akin, ‘di ba?”.
• Permission-based. But before anything and everything else, despite all the bells and whistles that go with your spiel, you need to get your foot in the door. And, that’s the beauty of it. The moment you do, you know well enough that Nanay Amy is interested in your product and that if everything goes well with your first meeting, she’ll let you in her door again and again and again.

Now, what does this have to do with digital marketing? Everything! What if you had the opportunity to cart that experience online, would you take advantage of it? If yes, then why the hell are you still dependent on your Facebook fan page when you could sell your brand the modernized direct selling way, the email marketing way!

With that thought, I leave you with a not-so-related video just to cleanse your palate off so much nerdiness.

+This post is part of the CDMP Week series, a week-long series of blog posts aimed at explaining digital marketing strategies through offline analogies. This has been partially intended as a fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Certified Digital Marketing Program (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Diploma Program). The CDMP (DMDP) is a one-year diploma course under the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philipppines (IMMAP) and Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education (Ateneo CCE). Enrollees go through a crash course on a number of digital marketing concepts and tactics and, in the end, have the opportunity to be dubbed as one of the few Certified Digital Marketers as recognized by IMMAP. To learn more, visit www.imadigitalmarketer.com or go to their Facebook page here.

CDMP Week: Introduction

This week, I pay homage to the wonderful world of digital marketing (and because, partly, I need to have all my essays submitted immediately) based from the learnings I gained from the one-year diploma course I'm currently enrolled in.

As you may all know, I'm taking up the Certified Digital Marketer Program (formerly known as Digital Marketing Diploma Program) with the hopes of becoming the digital marketer I ought to be. The program is a collaborative effort between Ateneo's Center for Continuing Education and the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines. It was designed primarily to accommodate people who wants to gain knowledge about digital marketing without having to sacrifice their current lifestyle. I'm talking about hours within your control, baby! It's module based and mostly online therefore everything you have to go through is laid out in front of you and it is completely up to you to determine your pace and timing. Should you wish to learn more, come visit their Facebook page here and their official website here.

As said, this week will be all about digital though I'm guessing that most of my previous posts are. For this week, however, I'll try to make it different. A number of people are not aware of digital marketing, let alone digital marketing. As such, if this goes well as planned, I'll come up with snippets of the digital marketing experience and explain it in a manner with which a lot of us could possibly relate to. And, what better way to discuss this than with a rather corny character named Aling Nena.

Aling Nena is your typical businesswoman who managed to set up a Japanese corn stall called Wakarima-corn in Katipunan Avenue, where she's faced with fierce competition, clutter (as Katipunan Avenue is filled with so many Japanese corn stalls), and a choosy target demographic in the persona of Sophia, an 18-year old carefree Ateneo de Manila University student whose breaks are dedicated towards scouting for cheap but good eats near her college site.

Let Aling Nena and Sophia take you on a journey of how her efforts offline reflects efforts that digital marketers like you are most apt to take.

Enjoy!

---

[+] CDMP Week: Introduction
[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Email Marketing

[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Websites

[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Search
[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Social Networks
[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on Blogs
[+] CDMP Week: A Layperson's Overview on e-Ethics

---

UPDATE: To supplement this week's, uhm, crash course on digital marketing, you may opt to check out what 2011 have in store for marketers in term of social media. Click, click!

Source:

[.] Corn by Azmil77

[.] Corn and Cigarettes by Starry Eyed