Digital Expression

Search Engine preference and usage patterns are unique across the APAC, especially in East Asia.  Of note is the dominance of Yahoo in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, Baidu in China and Naver in South Korea.   This post presents a road map to the SEO opportunity in the Asia Pacific including a look at how digital trends will transform the top 3 triggers for using a search engine from offline, to online.  The complete post is available at Webstrategy.Asia

The complete post is at Webstrategy.Asia

Air New Zealand's new pricing model reflects recognition of the growing market share of low cost carriers.  The flexible pricing means you can decide what flying experience you want and if it's worth the price tag, through i'm sure the air crew will be just as nice to you regardless of how much you spend on your ticket.

The message is clear: Price should not be the reason you decide not to fly with Air New Zealand on their uber-competitive domestic, Trans-Tasman and Pacific Routes. The competitive angle aside, this demonstrates how Air New Zealand are listening to, and catering to their customers' needs and zeroing in on an airline industry opportunity worth 10.6 billion.

Remember the last time you were in IKEA and got that great furniture deal because you were willing to pick it up and assemble it yourself?

In the UK, electronics retailer Kogan now offers shoppers the choice of buying goods at different points in the manufacturing cycle.

You pay a premium for the added convenience as the product moves through the manufacturing and shipping process.  A great deal or a marketing ploy? Time sensitive deals are compelling, which is one reason why daily deal sites are so popular.   You decide.

With services,  I think these transparent pricing models actually make more money for the companies behind them not because more people are accessing product at the lowest price point, but rather, because the customers become aware of exactly what they are missing out on and choose to upgrade their service level.  We can't resist a bargain or a little pampering.

How long before Facebook Credits (FBCs) becomes a payment option across the web? With Facebook Connect continuing to spread quickly across the web, FBCs could become the micropayment system that opens up revenue opportunities for media owners wanting to make an income with their premium content. This is about making it easy for consumers to buy what you are selling.   We should pay attention to FBCs because:

1. Virtual Currency Monetisation is a trend that is becoming an industry unto itself.  In fact, South East Asia is at the forefront:

The QQ coin is challenging the status of the renminbi [yuan] as the only legitimate currency in China.

 - Public prosecutor Yang Tao, AsiaTimes Online, December 5, 2006 / The Rise of Virtual Currency

2. Facebook, through the Open Graph, is becoming ubiquitousness across the global web.

In the coming digital sphere, without a 'gold' standard, consumers could vote with their thumbs.

- Brett King, FinExta, November 4, 2010

One opportunity could be for retail chains to accept FBCs as a payment method in-store.  This could work via a charge card or loyalty card. Now i'm not suggesting issuing another piece of plastic to your customers, rather i'm suggesting adding functionality to what they already have.

Facebook Credits  in your eCommerce Business

The best eCommerce companies offer a frictionless checkout process.  Multiple payment options that cater to individual preferences is an essential part of this. I have made a countless number of online purchases using PayPal because the process was just so easy.  Firstly, I did not have to waste time signing up for another website and secondly, I did not have to worry about the safety of my credit card details.

For eCommerce retailers, it's also important to consider the positive effects of using FBCs to their ranking in the increasingly important social graph, i.e It's another point of intersection between the retailer, the consumer and Facebook.

Facebook Credits for Airlines

Imagine something along the lines of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" sponsored by an airline.  The player is rewarded for completing tasks that are favorable to the brand and in return, earn Facebook Credits, or even better, points in the airlines frequent flyer program.  Gamification.org breaks down the elements of the formula that make games like Farmville so successful.   The point is that there is a tried and tested formula for creating a success social game like Farmville or Mafia Wars, and it can be adapted to the tastes of any niche audience.  We can already earn miles through non-flight activities, at the places we shop, eat and sleep, so why not somewhere that we play online ?

Source

CityVille demonstrates the in-game advertising opportunity, where you enable any player to include your brand in their city and they can open up more branches in their friends' cities.  That's potentially putting your brand in-front of a prospect every time they log in to play, which tends to be everyday of the week.

With Internet access at 35,000 feet coming of age, another possibility is for an airline to accept Facebook Credits as payments for upgrades or other rewards.  Casual gamers on Facebook and other virtual environments are already used to spending credits to buy virtual goods and services. If these people also like to fly, then this could be an especially good fit.  Low cost carriers could even use FBCs to collect on-board payments for entertainment, food and beverages.

Note that the opportunity is not limited to Facebook.  It extends to any social network or virtual world operating their own virtual currency.

First there was Facebook Connect and then the LIKE button proliferated across websites. Facebook Credits is a natural next step in the integration process.

If you're launching a new product or have a new TV commercial, there are compelling reasons to propagate it across the internet and cultivate regional online video communities across the Asia Pacific.

1. It's engaging, entertaining and easy to share.
2. Television is becoming a mainstream gateway to the internet and we will see more long-form and premium content become available.  For example: Home Project
3. 90% of Chinese internet users have access to broadband.
4. 1/2 of the world's internet population resides in APAC.

You could use Tubemogul.com to propagate it out to video aggregation sites across the globe or leverage your existing consumer touchpoints (like email or your website) to cultivate a community on a specific site like Youtube. You can also step outside the mould and try to use video remarkably like Esprit.com.  Or rather than a broad distribution strategy, you might instead choose to develop your presence on just one video site that dominates your target market.  One innovation on Youtube is the ability to add your own custom clickthrough links like in this example,  so as well as experiencing and sharing your video, the viewer can visit your website or any other online property that you specify, like at the end of this video:

 Done right, this can be a great customer acquisition and brand engagement campaign.

source source 2 (Checkout Comscore's Video Metrix for some market intelligence or take a look at Alexa.com's country specific site rankings for guidance on what video sites to focus on.)

YouTube.com, is the predominant destination across most of the Asia-Pacific, but did you know that there are country specific portals that should be factored into your planning? For example, in China the top three video properties are Youku, Tudou Sites and 56.com.

In Japan, you would also factor Dwango Co., Ltd. (which includes Nicovideo.jp) and NTT Group (which includes OCN.ne.jp) into your plans.

In Singapore and Malaysia Facebook is also a significant online video destination.

Tudou Sites ranked second in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Two years ago becoming a fan of generic pages like "Dark Chocolate" was all the rage. With 92,541 fans at last count, the page is of significant value to any chocolate brand wanting to launch a new product or stay front-of-mind with chocolate lovers.  In fact, there's a healthy trade in administrative rights that allows a company to access niche fan pages for a price.  I also think there is significant opportunity to any business who understands vanity URLs and the importance of the Open Graph to their Search Marketing Strategy. The value is  comparable to owning chocolate.com.

Chocolatier: Sweet Society.  Source

Today, social gaming can be an excellent way to launch a new brand.  For example Chocolatier: Sweet Society has 900,000 monthly active users and now a product that these people have only been able to access on a computer screen is actually in real-world production.

let's consider how mobile location based applications like Foursquare and Gowalla have proved how game theory can be applied to the real world.  Now consider all the plastic in your purse or wallet. This post demonstrates the power of game mechanics and its application to the real world.

source: Wikipedia

Foursquare and Gowalla educated the market on mobile gaming, check-ins and rewards. Facebook is now taking full advantage of the trend with their launch of 'Places' and 'Deals'.  The gap between online and offline marketing is getting smaller by the day.

The principle is simple: Perform an action, get rewarded and attain new heights:  stuff, power, access and status.  Get a rush of endorphins, an ego boost and bragging rights. We are competitive and territorial by nature and we seek out opportunities to express these traits.  Some of us prefer material possessions,while others are more interested in VIP access. I have been participating in loyalty schemes for years. I make purchases at specific stores with a specific credit card to earn points to get me to my reward goals faster.

A loyalty program does not necessarily have to be a formal card program.  It can simply be a case of visiting the same restaurant where you are friendly with the owner and she rewards you with a free glass of wine or a discount on your meal.

The best loyalty programs have SMART (Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) reward targets.

We are all driven by pain and pleasure stimuli and a good loyalty program is one that is designed to condition our behaviour towards achieving a goal that is aligned with a brand's strategic interests.  Our behavior can be conditioned in a manner similar to what's been described in Ivan Pavlov's famous experiment, where he conditions his dogs to salivate in response to specific stimuli.  This is the same way people can form new habits and adapt our behavior and also one reason why Daily Deal websites like Groupon and Grabaseat are so popular (The other reason being an inability to resist a bargain.)

Now game theory is penetrating our lives in new ways. As Springwise.com puts it:

Mobile gaming can help turn something we should do into something we want to do.

 For example:  http://www.ridekicks.com rewards you for sharing car rides.  The more you share, the more points you earn towards grandiose titles like King of the Road or Captain Planet.  This is an example of Gamification, an idea that some consider to be the future of marketing.

As email marketers, we are fundamentally interested in finding ways to increase:

• The numbers who click links in an e-mail
• Sales revenue that is generated as a direct result of an e-mail campaign.

Image Source

Even though social network usage has surpassed email, this chart suggests that email still rules the roost.  9/10 US consumers receive promotional email, only 4/10 are followers of a brand on Facebook and only 5% follow on Twitter. However, the results are overly simplistic for 2 reasons:

1. Once customers are given the choice to hear from a business via social media in addition to or in place of email, the gap will narrow. Greater freedom in contact choice is also linked to greater loyalty.

2. Furthermore, the comparison fails to take into account the increased viral potential offered by Facebook. The average Facebook user has 130 friends who could potentially see your brand endorsement and continue to exponentially spread your message. This fact alone is compelling enough to make your social network page the hub of a promotion using WildfireApp, run an e-commerce store using Payvment or do a product launch like SPCA Petfood or Dentyne have successfully done.  With 500 million users worldwide, Facebook is a safe bet, but for data to back up a channel decision, try using Flowtown to build a social profile for each customer.

1. The most elementary of steps is to include social sharing links in your email

It's time to go beyond the default 'email to a friend' option. Here's why:

A Getresponse poll that analysed 500 million emails that included links for Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Digg found found that:

• Overall, social media links improve CTR by 30% (7.2% to 9.4%)
• A Twitter link drives the best CTR: (10.2%) than email without one.  An increase of 40%
• The more links, the more clickthrough (11.2%)
• Interestingly, the social bookmarking service that started it all, Digg, offers the lowest CTR (5.3%)

2. The next step is to create hybrid email that drives traffic to both your website and social media.

More people use social networks than email.  It's prudent for us to position ourselves to adapt to changing contact preferences. So in your email communications, you can demonstrate a compelling reason to connect with you on a social network including samples of the unique content available and remember the entertainment and social-interaction elements that people are looking for.  Balance the email with your regular product offers that customers have come to expect.  Remember, either/or options are better than yes/no options.

Your marketing team should be able to copy/paste the needed HTML code, or you could try using a hosted email marketing provider like iContact, Netsuite or GetResponse that have built-in social media features (including tracking.)

I previously stated that social media is one way to disaggregate your customer database so you're not completely reliant on email. 

Your customers' habits are changing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

This chart from Morgan Stanley shows that social networking usage has now surpassed email usage.  Disaggregation is important.

Source: Internet Trends 2010 by Morgan Stanley
Corroborating Source: 2009 Marketing Trends by StrongMail

Furthermore, with this shift in behaviour, comes a shift in marketing budgets. Forrester estimates Social media spend of US$3.1 billion by 2014 versus only US2.1 billion for email.

We are past the tipping point.  Social media can be more effective than email because:

1. You can offer seamless experiences that keep the prospect on one channel and medium throughout the sales funnel, thereby reducing friction.
2. Overcome the noise associated with email marketing and reach prospects through a channel of their preference.  People who ignore your emails may listen to your message via an alternative channel.
3. The perception of a brand on a social network, is a brand that listens.  a brand that cares about me. And that asset - that social capital will deliver you customers that are worth more than those who you are not connected with on social networks.
4. It's easier for a recipient to share your message within a social network, than from an email client.
5. It's faster and easier for you to create a brief (and more easily consumable) post rather than produce a much longer html newsletter.
6. There are more relevant targeting opportunities than was possible with email segmentation, at least in the early stages of the customer lifecycle.

What's critical to remember, is that the tone of social media communications and it's approach is starkly different to email messaging. It's typically shorter and contains more rich media.  It's also a more passive message,  entertaining and has a level of personalisation that is unseen in email marketing.  It's ideally suited for targeting a niche group of subscribers who are interested buyers and / or influencers who are likely to think your message is remarkable enough to share it with their friends.

Here's how you can start integrating social media into your email marketing.

Understand and Implement SEO with this strategy guide and checklist.  Yours for a tweet!

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