Industry Speak: Interview with Oon Yeoh - Senior Researcher at Telenor

Industry Speak' is a series of interviews where we speak with practitioners in the online industry on their thoughts, theories and anything else in between. Watch this space for more interviews coming your way.

Up next is on our interview series 'Industry Speak' is Oon Yeoh. Oon Yeoh has been writing an ICT column for The Edge Malaysia, a business weekly, for the past six years. He's also written a book, Transition, about the impact of technology on society. He's currently working on New Media projects involving the convergence of text, images, audio and video. He also blogs on www.oonyeoh.com.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I'm a senior researcher at Telenor, a Norwegian telco. What I do is research latest trends in the mobile world and to conceptualize new ideas for the mobile platform.

2. How do you see mobile in these coming years in terms of technology, trends, and its use?
The biggest development will be the mobile web and content/services delivered through the mobile browser. Location-based services also has a lot of potential. And for course, there's mobile payment, which I also think will be big in due time.

3. How do you thing marketers can leverage from mobile?
Although behavioral targeting for the mobile platform is at its infancy, there is huge potential there simply because the mobile phone is such a personal device, which people carry with them everywhere. Internet advertising/marketing if done in a non-intrusive yet targeted way, could be the future of advertising.

4. If a company would like to embark on mobile marketing campaigns (as a key channel), what are the key considerations they should note?
At the moment, frankly, there are limited channels/ways to do effective mobile marketing and that's because the mobile web is not yet developed. The problem with SMS/MMS marketing is that it's very intrusive. Mobile web advertising is the way to go but it won't take off until the mobile web itself is developed. So, it will take some time. The most effective way for a company to leverage the mobile web would be to build a dynamic/interactive mobile website.

5. Mobile has always been a social tool for communication. With social sites now using mobile as another way to access social sites, what do you think will be next for 'mobile social networking'?
Social networking is very hard to do on the mobile phone because the device is so small. It's hard to navigate and enter text. As such, heavily text-based social networking would be limited. However, some form of social networking involving location-based technologies could be the way to go.

6. Only a few content providers have their websites 'mobile-enabled' (EG: BBC). Do you think content providers should embark quickly with a strong 'drive to mobile' strategy to grow the mobile business and ultimately generating revenue from mobile?
Absolutely, they should. But it's not just about creating a smaller version of your site for mobile. Some thought should be given to how to give value to the user should they decide to access your site through the mobile. This requires a good understanding the drawbacks and advantages of the mobile platform as opposed to the fixed web.

7. Any other thoughts before we end?
I think what the likes of Apple, Google and Nokia are doing with regard to mobile web is very exciting. These non-telco based companies will be the catalyst for development of the mobile web. They don't have any legacy issues to deal with and can be totally disruptive, which is what the industry needs.

Heard of Social Ice Cream?

Check out this fantastic video from the guys at Common Craft on how a new development in ice cream making has given everyone in ScoopVille (a fictional town) an opportunity to be a producer of their own ice cream and also ultimately - a chance to have a say in what they want.

Selecting An Effective Online Marketing Mix

Marketing is a big word, and often misunderstood. There are so many good and bad campaigns floating around the industry today. Some we notice, most we either miss, or doesn't matter to us. However, this is different when we look online. We can be specific and know how the campaign is performing.

But, online marketing itself can be rather daunting if we don't understand the different online channels we can use and how to be specific and effective using them. Each topic itself has a long story and we'll try to write on that separately on future postings. For now, we'll cover the different channels on a high level.

1. Email Marketing: The first thing you need to know when you embark on email marketing is the database. Firstly, you need a database that is relevant to you. You can purchase it, or obtain it through a database acquisition campaign. Crafting out the email from the 'Sender' to the key message and the ultimate call to action is another craft in it's own.

2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): This is easy with Google's self help tools on Google Adwords. Getting the right keywords and placing them at right places will help. With a small budget, you can wield fairly god results. Most important thing to note with Search Engine Marketing is how the click with become a conversion. The navigation flow has to be smooth when someone visits the page you lead them to. Most importantly, it doesn't necessarily have to be your home page.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): With a bigger budget spread over a longer period of time, it's always important to optimise your SEM campaign. Enhance it in line with your company's track. For example, if you are having a booth at a conference, craft it to include such search strings to generate more relevant visitors. This can be an endless process.

4. Viral Marketing (Online): The internet is all about being viral. It's the word of mouth of today. But, going viral itself is not just posting your standard TVC ad on YouTube. I've written more on this HERE.

5. Social Media Marketing (SMM): There are two angle here. One is when you get involved with the communities, seed, identify, scout and research the many social media sites to with an objective in mind. This objective may differ from company to company. It could be for research or monitoring sentiments to even launching a product combining Viral and SMM initiatves together. I've written something earlier. Do take a read HERE. The other will be advertising in Social Media sites like Facebook and MySpace. However, how catchy will your ad be amongst all the other ads? That brings me to my next point.

Update: "An increasingly effective tactic used by corporations increasingly is in the area of creation of widgets or applications in networks like Facebook. If the application is designed in line with campaign objectives, the likelihood of success, I feel, is better than mere web or banner advertising. I think Intel crafted and commissioned a really popular one recently." (Thanks Kelvin!)

6. Online Advertising: Banner ads and text links come to play here and crafting a good communication message is vital to get that click through. be it images or good copy, creative writing.

7. Web-vertorials. Let's face it. We know one when we read one. But, people still read it. Simply because it's part of their research process, if the web-vertorial is well written. Don't hard sell, be honest and give them the information they want. Convince them. But first, convince yourself.

Update:
8. The 8th point is virtual worlds/ online gaming marketing. Relatively new ground but companies hv already started investing (setting up virtual stores/ buildings) into this area.

Some previous studies hv also shown youths especially are spending more time on gaming and virtual worlds than traditional TV and in some cases - the internet! Examples included SecondLife, Habbo etc. (Thanks again Kelvin)

Well, drop us a note if you think we missed anything out. But, here you have a list of online marketing tactics and you usually don't need all of them. Understand the business objectives, choose the best online marketing mix and create great tactics for all of them in an integrated manner for both online and offline drive to web strategies.

Remember, a good product sells itself, and it's all about executing that one great idea. Sometimes, people just need a little reminder and assurance.

Image from: http://www.sxc.hu/

"What are you doing?"

These are the 4 simple words that are currently driving the phenomenal popularity of Twitter - the newest social networking tool to hit the masses around the world. 

In 2 words, Twitter is micro blogging. It's blogging (aka BlogSpot, Wordpress etc) without the need to think too much about the copy, content structure, visuals & videos and all the usual stuff you should be familiar with by now.

The maximum number of characters you can have on each Twitter post is 160 and this is exactly the same as a text message (SMS) that you can send from your mobile phone. Obviously, this means you can update your Twitter page simply by typing in your 160 character entry on your phone and send it to your assigned number (when you sign).

Another way to update your Twitter page is through your instant messenger, for example MSN Messenger or GTalk (if you're using Gmail). Simply type in your message, hit send and wah-la! (Due to massive popularity leading to server problems, sending updates by IM has not been functional since May 2008. Will update once it's up.)

So what's the point of Twitter? Simply, I think one of the biggest reason for me to use Twitter is that it allows me to keep my friends or contacts updated, even though I am out of the office or home, through SMS. I do not have to use WAP, 3G or find a Wi-Fi spot to get onto the web. That means if I am attending a seminar, I can update the latest topic literally seconds after I hear it. This way, all my 'followers' will be able to know what's happening. The world has gotten smaller once again.

There is an incredibly informative video below:



With all social networking tools or websites (including Facebook!), you either love it or hate it. I think I love Twitter (so far!) - it is already experiencing fantastic user growth in the last 3 months (so much so the Twitter serves crashes quite often, but the owners are currently upgrading their servers). Try it and find out if you like it - it's easy to register and get going.

Reuters, the famous global news & information company, allows the company to send updates to their Twitter-followers, literally seconds upon the incident happening (theoretically even faster than their website or press releases because it takes a shorter time to compose 160 characters!). Check it out here. And, if you're more of a techie, you can also follow the latest news on the CNet Twitter page. 

Sign up and don't forget to check out and drop a 'Twitter reply' on my 'Digital Marketing Twitter' page here and Gerald's Twitter page here as well!

* Title image from PRBlog.typepad.com

The Essential Guide to Social Media by Brian Solis

I came across this interesting read by Brian Solis. It's an e-book titled 'The Essential Guide to Social Media' and it's free.

Here we go:

The Essential Guide to Social Media - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: The Essential Guide to Social Media

Power to the (Facebook) People

Ever invited or forwarded an invite to a friend via Facebook for an party or event you're organising or thinking of attending? Well, that's exactly what thousands of British Facebook users did over the weekend when thousands 'invaded' Liverpool St station for 'the last party' of the London Underground.

It all started when the newly elected mayor of London Boris Johnson (who took over from Ken Livingstone) stuck to his campaign promise and announced the ban on alcohol drinking in all public transports (Underground, Overground trains, buses etc) earlier this month. The ban would come into effect from midnight of Sat 30th, Saturday.

In a country like Singapore, this is no big deal as Singaporeans have not been allowed to do much on the trains except to enjoy the ride since the opening of the MRT. As a law-maker, try doing that in a diversified, up-for-anything population like those in London, and you get approximately 7000 people turning up at a train station with intentions to have a 'fun riot' just because they don't think that banning alcohol outrightly will curb violence on public transport).

A bunch of good-intentioned individuals decided to start a Facebook Group and a Facebook event as a 'revolt' against Boris's seemingly ridiculous new regulation. One invite led to another and within a week, there were more than 5000 UK Facebook users who clicked 'Yes' and accepted the event invite. Email invites, viral and word-of-mouth marketing fuelled the rest of the online awareness campaign.

Originally, the idea was to invite enough people to fill up the last carriage of the train on the Circle Line (this is a tube line that goes round the city, rather then from one end of the city to another end) that will arrive at Liverpool Tube station at 2100 hours on Sat 30th, Saturday. Party goers can then get on the train, have a blast, drink and possibly embarrass themselves t mark the banning of alcohol. Simple enough. A filled train carriage holds approximately 80 - 120 people at the most. After all, who would bother with a train party?

The day arrived and the party began early at about 5 pm when revellers started arriving in droves.

Now, who doesn't want an excuse to get drunk at with like-minded revelers? Everyone was in good mood anticipating a good night ahead - but it was a classic disaster waiting to happen.

As usual, once alcohol started to flow (mixed in with a bit of British tipsiness and for the minority - arrogance and aggressiveness), things started to get messy.

By 8 pm, Liverpool Street underground station was closed to ease overcrowding. Other Tube stations closed by police were Euston, Euston Square, Aldgate, Gloucester Road and Baker Street.

As reported by BBC, by the end of the night, 17 people were arrested for offences such as assault, being drunk and disorderly, assaulting police, public order related offences and drug offences. One police vehicle was damaged and two officers assaulted and another injured. Police also reported four assaults on train drivers and three assaults on other members of London Underground staff (and amazingly with a complete lack of common sense, the transport union is blaming the mayor for the mess and the assualt towards their staff!).

In a public statement, one of the organisers (who is a banker working in Royal Bank of Scotland in the City) has regretted his actions as he now faces a possible sacking for the bank for his after-work antics. Interestingly, his other friend thinks it's a brilliant idea and is already planned for upcoming similar concepts at popular areas like Leicester Square.

The debate on whether the ban will work or not (of whether you agree with it or not) is not the point for this story.

The next time you send out an event invite out to your friends via a social network website, don't underestimate the power of the viral effect. You might want to uncheck the option for your friends to allow invite-forwarding to their friends in their network. Of course this depends on the objectives of your event but you may get much more than what you're were bargaining for (especially if it's a free party!).

More Circle Line party pictures from the BBC

Title Photo by Jason Ng