Tag Archives: social

The Recent Financial Attraction to Indonesia

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Investors around the world who are looking for new opportunities and emerging markets should be interested in hearing that Indonesia is growing financially and becoming a very attractive place for doing business. Home to 242 million people [1], Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populated country, and is showing growing  financial stability;  according to the Boston Consulting Group’s report which was released on March 6th of this year.

According to the report, “Indonesia is at the early stages of a period of strong economic growth, creating a wave of new middle class and affluent consumers that will grow in both size and purchasing power through 2020″ [2]. The growth in size is estimated to be from 74 million to 141 million, making about 58% of the population middle class and above; a huge increase from now in 2013. On top of this data, according to a survey of Boston Consulting Group, 31% of the people in Indonesia feel financially secure; compared with China (14%), India (19%), Russia (15%) and Brazil (13%)[3].

In addition to financial growth, Indonesia has enjoyed a relatively stable political climate in the recent years.  The country being 86% Muslim, Indonesia has a political system that is secular and supports a constitutional democracy. A 2005 peace agreement and elections in 2006 led to a major cooling of the military tension that the country had experienced prior to the agreement[4].

Using unique data mining algorithms, Viral Technology examined the social media mentions related to investment in Indonesia over the past six months.  The accompanying graph shows a stable upward sloping trend line, with recent,  growing spikes. Another interesting graph shows Indonesia’s oil consumption[5]. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, around 2004 Indonesia became an oil importer, showing yet another sign of the growing financial power of the country.

Viral Technologies tracks and measures unique leading indicators that foreshadow and forecast economic growth/decline on a National and Global level.

[1]https://www.google.com/publicdata/exploreds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_pop_totl&id im=country:IDN&dl=en&hl=en&q=indonesia%20population

[2] http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-129295

[3]http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/03/07/the-investment-case-for-indonesia/

[4] http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/indonesia-facts/

[5] http://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/matthews_111210b.php

5 Reasons Law Firms Still Dismiss Social Media…and Why They’re Wrong

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1.“There’s no ROI”

There is ROI for blogs and social media, you just have to enter into the social space having previously determined what you want to track and get out of social media. Without some kind of benchmark such as conversion rates, traffic to your site, likes or engagement on a post, calculating an ROI IS going to be impossible. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Bit.ly etc… can help to track interest, click through rates, demographics and where/how people are talking about your firm/lawyers.

2.“The Metrics aren’t reliable”

I don’t really understand why people would think this, because Social Media data is some of the cleanest and pinpointed data there can be. There are hundreds of applications that can tell you how many people have clicked a link, who’s clicked it, where they’re from, engagement statistics, which content got the most activity etc…basically that argument is just not sound.

3.“Social Media is still too young”

…So is the Internet, so is mobile. Does your firm use email, online journals, or other websites for research? I’m sure the answer is yes, and Social Media is no longer just for the innovative law firms–it has become mainstream. Did you know that 81% of law firms are now using some kind of social media platform? If your law firm doesn’t adapt to this social shift, you will be at a significant disadvantage.

4.“Social Media is just another trend that will pass”

A recent survey from The Nielsen Company stated Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites, including blogs. This is up more than 40% from just last year! With the way social media is growing, there is simply no chance it’s going anywhere anytime soon. Social Media is all about adapting to our communication needs, and as long as people are conversing there will surely be social media.

5.We need to control our message

I was watching a webinar with Gary Vaynerchuk last week and he discussed this very topic. He explained that because of the way social media is molding traditional marketing tactics, we too need to adapt to the way with which messages are dispersed and received. We can say whatever we want about our brand, but we have virtually no control over what people are saying about us. This can be scary, but it also allows your brand to grow and adjust your product/services to fit the needs and desires of your consumers.

Pay it Forward Marketing Shift

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Today’s marketing and advertising techniques are undergoing an enormous change, largely due to the integration of the internet and more recently, social media, into business plans worldwide. Plain and simple, today’s marketplace simply does not operate in the way that it used to, and the sooner companies realize this, the more successful they will be in turning profit.

A great example of this shift is the way in which traditional marketing tactics such as direct marketing, email marketing and cold calling are shifting is the emergence of what Gary Vaynerchuck, New York Times and Wallstreet Journal’s Best-selling author, calls the “Thank You Economy (TYE).” This means that in order to advertise and market to the people that you hope to reach, you have to actually “give a crap!”

The way in which the TYE is thriving is through social media. Using old tactics like direct marketing simply isn’t going to work on Facebook or Twitter, as this messaging will immediately be marked as spam, and ignored. In order to turn followers into buyers of your products/services, you need to offer them something of value whether it be through content, coupons, giveaways, or superior customer service.

The TYE works today because people are sick of dealing with automated telecommunication messages and they want to be treated as if their business matters. It also works due to human nature. What I mean by this, is that we as humans have an innate desire to “pay it forward.” We simply can’t deal with owing people, so we repay favors in order to maintain social fairness.

We can return a favor via social media through a follow, a friend, a like, or a share. Every month, 25,000,000 pieces of content are shared via Facebook. Humans for the most part like to give back, so so sharing important/funny/impactful pieces of content to their following is an extremely powerful marketing and advertising tactic.
Consumers also like to know that their opinion and their thoughts have been heard. Reacting to customer’s concerns or praises only strengthens the relationship that your brand has to its following, and if you’re are able to implement changes in order to provide a customized product to your following, then you are thriving in the TYE.

An article that I read the other day defined a very important aspect to the TYE in one word; social commerce. The author of said article stated that social commerce helps shoppers to make smart and saavy purchases so that retailers will be able to listen and adjust their product or service to fit the needs and desires of their valued customers.

In maintaining a sort of ping pong relationship with your customers and/or potential customers, you are creating a mutually beneficial engagement and that is what the TYE is all about.

Why the Social Media Job Market Needs Generation Y

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The recent target=”_blank”>article about social media and its close relation to Generation “Y” titled, “Why Social Media Managers Should Be Under the Age of 25,” by a recent University of Iowa graduate Cathryn Sloane, has received its fair share of controversy thus far, so it seems like a great time to address some of the points that this article brings up.

Sloane asked following question: Why do marketing/communication/PR firms insist that all potential candidates have 5-10 years of professional experience? In this case, isn’t social media experience in general (which she argues Generation Y has the most of) just as valuable?

It would be helpful for those looking to hire a social media manager to realize that everyone presently under the age of 25 were in various years of high school when Facebook first came out in 2004, and when Twitter was launched in 2006. Having the minimum years of experience required for most job qualifications (5 years), would plant them smack dab in the middle of sophomore/junior year of college or in freshman year of high school (10 years)! There is simply no way that this generation could have 5-10 years of experience as most job ads prefer.

Perhaps those hiring should consider what Generation Y can bring to the table, and make their hiring decisions accordingly.

Below are some of the things that Generation Y can teach older marketing and social media professionals:

1. Generation Y began using social media before businesses were bombarding it with direct sale messages and spam. We used Facebook and Twitter socially before professionally, which not many people can say.

2. We know these social platforms better than anyone because they came out when we were 15 and 16. We were right in the middle of the social shift, and it is really one of the ways with which our generation is defined.

3. We’ve known Facebook since before the timeline, the cover photo, chat and even before notifications! We’ve seen all the changes and USED all the new features so we are better equipped to predict, adapt and make use of any and all of the upcoming developments in the social media realm.

4. Those under 25 have recently graduated from college, having learned the latest marketing and social media tactics with fresh and innovative ideas that may be different from those of a seasoned professional. New ideas, no matter who they’re from, should never be overlooked.

Though the author of the original article may have simply skimmed the surface of this debate, and some of her points are undoubtedly debatable, the most important thing that she implied is that Generation Y is not getting a fair chance in the job market, especially when considering how they can help a company.

Would you considering hiring someone from Generation Y to manage your brands’ social media accounts? Why/Why not?

Saving Lives One Status Update at a Time

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Facebook has become a staple for both personal interests and business matters and is on point to reach 1 billion users by August—that’s 1/7 of the world’s population. Twitter, the other social media giant, has greater than 140 million active users.

Because there are so many users, and because we spend so much time on it (average of nearly 8 hours per month, per user for Facebook alone), social media has become a great channel for asking/giving help.

For years now, non-profits and charities have used social media to run campaigns, ask for donations/sponsorship, gain awareness and promote their causes, but just recently, people have started to take advantage of social media’s reach to distribute SOS messages.

In the past few years, there have been several instances where people have used social media to communicate with rescue crews or loved ones when they couldn’t get to a phone, or if phone lines were inaccessible. Missing person reports and important alerts and emergency response messages are also being delivered regularly through sites like Facebook and Twitter, simply because no other channel can reach so many people in such a short amount of time. The social space is the most saturated marketplace for dispersing and receiving messages and the public is finally starting to take advantage of this shift.

Below are a few local/national crisis’ with which people have used social media to let loved ones know they were okay, or to ask for medical assistance.

-In the Aftermath of the horrific tornado in Joplin, MO in May of 2011, the city’s newspaper, The Joplin Globe created a Facebook page that would help tornado survivors to locate missing family members, or to let loved ones know of their safety and location. For more information please click here.

-The plane crash in the Hudson River was first broken to the public in a tweet that occurred four minutes after the crash and 15 minutes before any news outlets could report the story.

-After and during the Mumbai Terrorist attacks, hospitals and volunteers were actively tweeting contact numbers, emergency response services, and requests for blood donors in nearby hospitals. Twitter users were also engaging in citizen journalism where they were reporting and uploading pictures as the events took place, and as a forum for getting in touch with displaced or missing family and friends.

Mashable did a survey asking people how likely they would be to use social media as a way to communicate their safety to loved ones…here are the results:

28% said they definitely would
21% said they probably would
22% said they may/may not
13% said they probably would not
16% said they definitely would not

Would you use social media to let your loved ones know your safety? Would you answer a tweet or Facebook post that asked for medical assistance? Please leave your comments below!

Where Did Our Attention Spans Go?

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The average attention span for online readers is 2.6 seconds. This means that we, as the content distributors, have approximately 3 seconds to prove to our readers that our content is worth reading.

I started this blog post with the intention of writing about the shifting channels with which people gather information. As you know, the public is using traditional newspaper and news outlets less and less, and are beginning to turn toward internet sites, social media platforms, blogs and forums to retrieve their news and information.

Peter Shankman, VP of Vocus and founder of helpareporter.com, attributes the shift from traditional mediums like newspapers to online platforms not to the lack of news, but to our inability to set aside the time and energy that it would take to read longer articles.

Perhaps Twitter had it right with the 140 character limit? Is this where our society is going? Should all online, and perhaps offline content have a 140 character limit to ensure its readability for America’s dwindling attention spans?

Have no fear; here are a few tips to make sure that your content demands the attention of your reader:

1.HAVE A KILLER HEADLINE.

80% of people will read your title, while a mere 20% will go on to read your whole post. This may seem silly, but if you’re having a hard time formatting your headline, borrow a Cosmopolitan magazine from your mom/sister/significant other and learn a few things about writing a great title. Here are a few examples of a great header
- What everyone should know about…
- Little known ways to…
- How to solve [problem] in 3 simple steps
- 5 ways to eliminate [problem]

Socialmediaexaminer.com suggests that 50% of your emphasis when writing an article should be focused on the quality of your headline.

2.USE A LOT OF PICTURES.

This is pretty obvious but breaking up words with pictures helps the reader to not become overwhelmed by rows and rows of words that they feel they don’t have time to read. Be sure to use a thumbnail picture whenever you share your post to your varying social media platforms.

3.BREAK UP YOUR WRITTEN CONTENT WITH BULLETS, NUMBERS AND/OR LIST FORMAT.

This is another great way to help your reader to realize the most important aspects of your blog. Being that most of your audience will simply scan your post looking for the information that they’ve set out to find, using bullet points to outline the main points of your blog will help your audience locate the meat of your article.

4.GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT.

Tell your audience what you’re going to be writing about and a brief explanation of why, and then get right into it!

5.DON’T WRITE TRADITIONAL ENGLISH101 PARAGRAPHS.

People don’t want to focus on reading 5-6 sentences in each paragraph. It honestly is daunting for many people including myself. In breaking up your paragraphs with 1-3 sentences instead of 5-6, you will better engage your reader.

6.WRITE AS IF YOU WERE HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND.

As you know social media, including blogs, is all about engagement and REAL human interaction. Just because you are distributing your content online doesn’t mean that your posts should be condescending, patronizing, or robotic. Have a regular conversation and I promise your blogs will be easier and more enjoyable for your audience to invest their time and short attention spans on.