Consolidating blogs.

Hi Folks,

I'm consolidating all my Social Media Blogs at

http://blog.newsocialmediabrand.com/

Thanks for following.

--Robin Low

One Tough Social Media Training in Singapore

Completed a tough training in Singapore. Initially, when they need me to do training for different levels of management to try to get them to think about direction and strategies, and with different understanding of the various platforms, customizing the training to please everyone was hard.

Giving examples of what you could do with social media for your business does raise many eyebrows and effectively use of the different platforms by researching and understanding keywords seemed new for some people, however a few people who were in charge of SEO seemed bored.

Breaking into groups to plan strategies seemed awkward as well. The person in charge seemed to be not interested in the doing, which seemed to be not helpful at all.

Furthermore, when a department in the company decided not to take part in social media and yet "forced" to take part of the training, seemed to mock parts of the training and seemed very resistive to the idea that their targeted audience is on Facebook, I thought, wow, why is this person here?

There are a lot of forced engagement, and when asked to think of solutions, as Singaporeans, many try not to say anything at all. However, overall, I found that videos seemed to work as it engages everyone and some humor seemed to bring everyone on the same wavelength, and getting the group to open up seemed easier after the videos.

Overall, after a week, they worked with me to craft out a social media calender, guidelines and policies which seemed very exciting. I will be checking on their progress and hopefully they can be very successful in what they do.

-- Robin Low

Singapore's Politicians on Social Media

Social Media is used by several politicians in Singapore, some more than others.

While many still believe that Social Media is about having Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, some still think numbers matter.

With a drive to make Lee Kwan Yew the most popular politician on social media, he did not engage anyone and now Nicole Seah has more fans than him.

However, Chen Shao Mao seems to get the most people talking about it.

What matrices is most important?

What do you think?

-- Robin Low

Public Engagement through social media

There are a lot of difference between "likes", "comments" and actually getting people to take action.

The number of comments that you get when you share a post, and the sentiment is also very important.

It takes time to build followers, trust and affinity. And Public Engagement is a skill that one should not assume that one already knows in the new digital sphere.

Come find out more about social media, open your mind and learn more.

-- Robin Low


'Silent Majority is truly disturbing' -- Good read

"Take Workers' Party Chen Show Mao, for example.

He is beguiling, wide-eyed, charismatic, eloquent, effectively bilingual, selfless, determined and social media-savvy.

And when he speaks in Parliament, he has everyone eating out of his hands.

When he updates his status on Facebook, he creates a virtual stampede to see who can "Like" his post first.

Half the ladies on my Facebook friends list are saying they fantasise about the day they meet the Workers' Party MP in a dark, lonely alley.

So that they can have the chance to converse with him in their half-past six Mandarin without anyone within earshot and feeling embarrassed that they are only mastering the Chinese language now to communicate with this Taiwan-born maverick.

The other half, more or less, are quite convinced they want to have his babies.

It's safe to say if this trend carries on, it won't bode well for your party in the future."

iSlap

iSlap is invented.

Have you slapped anyone with your iPad lately?

Wonder if this video will go viral?

Its your fault -- NEW MEDIA

After the Arab spring, many countries have blamed their problems on New Media. "Information is spreading too fast. We can't stop all the rumors."

For many decades, the government in many countries have no transparency, and a state controlled media where information they do not wish to share is simply not reported. Controlling the media allows the government to craft their messages and share what information they deem is required.

New media had caused turmoil in the Arab world, where popular uprisings ousted the autocratic leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and brought the Libyan regime to its knees. In Singapore, new media sites are more influential than all the other newspapers with more engagement, discussions and reads.

Many governments want to "control the Internet", either by censoring or blocking sites or imposing fines on a certain code of conduct. Many government are unable to respond to critics when they roll out an unpopular law, and pledge "responsible expression" or a code of conduct on the Internet. In Singapore, the ministers call social media, "The Wild West" and condemn the use of many site which reports on their failings.

But what exactly has changed? What made these government fear or hate social media? In essence, nothing much have changed. People will always complain about bad policies or information that seems unjust. The only main difference is, the government gets real feedback from real people who feel the need to share. So why do the government fear the rise of social media?

1) Unfamiliarity causes fear. Most people in power are not Gen-Y and do not grow up using their gadgets. But just think about emails, 10 years ago, many of them will still be expecting mail, but now email is a standard form of communication.

2) Some may feel that they are too important to engage with the public on social media, or their privacy is threatened. The truth is, you are the one sharing data, and if the information does not put you in a good light, then you have the choice not to share.

3) People will give lots of negative feedback if you engage on social media. However, people will talk with or without you. With social media, you get informed on the negative feedback and it is not filtered from you.

4) People can form groups faster and create instability. On social media, it is true that people can form groups faster. But instead of complaining, large organizations like Red Cross and many other NGOs have used it to create more awareness and raised more funds for their causes. The government can also engage and influence to win more people on their policies.

5) Social media is a waste of time. Although social media may be a "time-suck", when use properly, it disseminates information faster than one-to-one communications. When you ask a question on your twitter account, all of your followers can read and may respond to you.


A good policy is important for successful social media engagement. Social media is here to stay and it is just another medium of communications. Don't blame social media. Instead on leverage and you can find the ease to reach more people and get real feedback.

-- Robin Low

The Indonesian Way: When in doubt, blame the New Media

Social Media Manager vs. Community Manager

I have been encouraging companies who are getting into social media to get a community manager, and even explaining the concept of the Community Manager, many people still do not get it. The person they tend to hire is a Social Media Manager, and there is a difference.

Social media manager

A social media manager takes the lead in managing the overall efforts of a company social media platform. He is responsible for creating content specific to a product or brand strategy across social networks. They monitor and create engagement to achieve goals of a specific campaign, and measure ROI.

Community manager

A community manager's role is mainly to monitor and engage the public for that community. After which, the community manager will feedback what is learned from the community to the company. I consider a community manager to be more detailed and involved in certain aspects of social media, whereas a social media manager can manage more of the bigger picture aspects of online marketing.


Do you believe they vary for a small business vs. an enterprise?

Usually, an enterprise would hire several social media managers, and they may not be even in charge of developing the strategy, however for small businesses, a social media manager would wear many hats and focus on one or 2 channels.

A community manager in a small business may actually take on the role of social media manager, having many responsibilities including creating content, however a community manager in a large enterprise may just be in charge of engagement on one or 2 channels.

With a good community manager and social media manager, a company or an enterprise can monitor brand and prevent social media crisis from happening.

-- Robin Low