How to lead a disastrous Social Media strategy in China ? Part II

If you clicked through the first part, you already know this title is just a hook and this article is about reviewing common mistakes that ruin Social Media strategies in China. After #1, 2 and 3, respectively “Ignore Social Media”, “Underestimate the Investment” and “Own the Conversation”, here are the 3 following mistakes.
 

 

 

Ink Stain Commercial for CCTV by Niko Tziopanos

Ink Stain Commercial for CCTV by Niko Tziopanos

 

 

How to lead a successful strategy on sns in China ? 6 mistakes to avoid – Part II

 

Mistake # 4 - Define conversions as the only KPI

 

Often, marketers – or sales executive focus only on what drives the direct and final conversions : a lead, an email, keywords campaigns or banner display, neglecting important decision-makers factors such as trust and persuasion.

Social media campaigns have to be handled with the same pragmatism of any other online marketing action but not only  : defining KPIs and clear objectives is the first step to ensure the success of a campaign. Indeed, if I do not know what I want to achieve, how can I tell I succeeded or not?

Using a mix of quantitative metrics - number of times the brand/product is mentionned, number of pageviews, social networks coverage, traffic driven, sales, average order value…together with qualitative ones – accuracy of the targeting is translated by engagement : time spent on site, return rate, positive vs negative word-of-mouth, natural virality…is necessary to measure the effectiveness of such campaigns.

 

Mistake # 5 – See China with your own eyes

 

This mistake is still widely spread among foreign companies in China. Whether for big groups who must respond to a global positioning worlwide and politics that slow them down in their decision process, or smaller companies that still try to replicate foreign models on the Chinese markets, the question is : why so many failures?

Chinese netizens have a very different behavior online than the West : the craving of Generation Y to express itself gives birth to a more participative and interactive web 2.0, leading to the growing importance of social networks and online games. To understand social networks, you have to understand Chinese society.

Rand Han from BloodyAmazing said in this very interesting article The Meta-Reality of China Advertising

 

“Beyond appearance, the true value of a brand is the emotions it elicits when viewed by its market.”

 

What is important to Chinese people? What stirs up their emotions? Keeping in mind thess questions when building strategy is the one ingredient often missing to achieve success.

 

 

Mistake # 6 - Stop your campaign

 

Social Media is about creating a relationship. Many brands build a site, create profiles on numerous social networks, get an audience engaged, make efforts, but just stop after 3 months. Why? Social media marketing is still considered from a traditional 3-months campaign approach and the mistakes mentionned above contribute to ruining campaigns.

Keep on entertaining the relationship, listening to your audience and rewarding your fans/followers. What is the risk ? See results increase, stabilize the budget and get your return on investment…

 

For successful examples, check this L’Oreal case and follow this blog.

 

 

Related articles

How to lead a disastrous Social Media Strategy in China – Part I

Latest Statistics on online SNS usage in China

 Eight Ways to Ruin your Social Media Strategy

Giving Luxury Brands a Chinese Soul

 

November 24, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

Why Quality (content) makes Quantity (traffic)

 
Nothing Sadder than an empty glass of Champagne

Nothing Sadder than an empty glass of Champagne

 
What is Social Media Marketing ? I kid you not, I have heard in a meeting with a client “We should do SMS” instead of “SNS”. Good for you. Would you like some M&M’S too?
 
It seems like with all this buzz and name-dropping, people tend to forget to start from the beginning : understand basic principles of Social Media, how to’s and think how it could apply to one’s industry. Some trends don’t fit everybody, just like slim jeans.
 
But even understanding what it is and how it works is not enough.
 
I know what is a plane. I kinda understand how it works with all the forward motion and stuff. But even if I know where I want to go it doesn’t mean I will get there without an excellent pilot (specialized agency), and some fuel - money that’s right, there is no such thing as a good stuff free…
 
Social Media is a powerful tool and like anything powerful – arts, media, a Victoria secret model, H-bomb.., it needs to be in handled with great care.
 
I would like to quote Lafayette – the hysterical black gay character in True Blood, not the French aristocrat and general in the american revolutionary war (what can I say, at least most of you know who I am talking about) :
 
“Don’t blame the Ferrari just because yo’ass can’t drive”
 
Social Media is a Ferrari and needs skilled drivers. Skills like having a deep knowledge of the social media landscape in China and knowing how to use it, using best practices from abroad and being able to adapt them to local behaviors.  
 
Start with content. Recently I heard  ”Content is not very important, I don’t want to focus on that. Just drive traffic to my site and I am happy”
 
 Well, sure. Do you think you’ll have a crowd coming to your house party if there nothing to drink and nothing to eat – in fact, no party ?  I can already see the % of your bounce rate, and it’s no low…And once the people are gone, they are not likely to come back any soon.
 
Why content is the key? Because when you enter social networks, you are not welcomed as a brand. My fellow Buzzman quotes Bob Thacker, senior VP-marketing and advertising at OfficeMax :
« The secret is respecting the consumer.You are interrupting their life. All advertising is unwanted, so if you’re going to crash the party, bring some champagne with you. »
 
 
 What is the champagne you’re bringing ? Content. Entertaining and good stuff  : Champagne yes, Prosecco no. It can be insights, tips, gifts, or just a good laugh but it must contribute to make the readers interested in you enough to come (drive traffic to your site) and talk about you (viral). 
 
Quality only will make Quantity. Chin-chin…
November 2, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Sexy and the Geek

Follow me Stockings

Follow me Stockings

 
Sexy, quirky and a great advertising for Twitter combining trends like hot legwear and Manvertising – in that case Womandvertising.
 
 
Social media has become so important that soon nobody would ask you what’s your name anymore, but what’s your TwitterName…
 

For 18$ on Etsy, you’ve got your conversation starter with the geek next door.

 
 
 
 
October 16, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Extinction of Badvertising – Part III : The Transporters

 

cab ads

 

I’ve been meaning to write this article for a long, long time. When it comes to transportation in Shanghai, what options do we really have?

 

x Walk. I love walking, but it’s not always the fastest way to go from A to B, especially if you are unfortunate enough to go to Pudong.

x Bike. Have you seen my logo? Do I look like a bicycle person ? Not really, and frankly the way people drive around here does not make me want to become one.

x Scooter/Motorbike. As much as I enjoy the fact that nobody will arrest you if you’re not wearing a hammer, it’s not safe for anyone. I do love Vespas though, so I might think about it.

x Bus. It might come as a shocker, but I took the bus several times in Shanghai. At night when it’s empty it’s not so bad if you don’t miss your station.

x Subway. I don’t even know where is the nearest station from where I live.

x Cab. Probably the most used transport way, as most of us lazy foreigners don’t own a car here.

 

There come the Taxi Ads. I believe one day, a Madman took a cab and thought :

 

“Wow, look at how many people use cabs everyday..If we could find a way to exploit it…Eureka! Let’s put video screens in cabs. People will have no choice but watch it. Let’s make the turn off button very, very small and inconvenient. Hm, no actually, let’s take it off. Brilliant!”

 

Intrusive? I admit I have touched the screen a couple times when stuck in traffic ;  my ipod was out of battery and none of my friends would answer their phones – bored, yes. But I was even more bored after I discovered most games or videos are not very entertaining – it’s all about product review and flat description. Cool…

 

But it must work obviously, because I also have very clear images in my mind of Josh Hartnett for the latest Armani perfume and I’m glad to know Barbie gives cooking class. So I would say this is effective for a brand/product awareness.

 

Wait. What kind of awareness ? This kind of branding might be sticky for sure, but does it give a good, positive feeling? If I’d be spending between 120 000 rmb-250 000 rmb/month for running my little video in 1000 cabs, I’d appreciate some sympathy.

 

My point : when advertising is ready switch to an inclusive – not seclusive, marketing, and move from “me me me” to “you” and “us”, then maybe we’ll have some real experience and won’t feel like white mouses under some experiment.

Until then, when I take a cab, first thing I do is switch off the screen – or turn off the sound.

 

Related articles

City to silence taxi video ads

Annoying Taxi Ads on the Move?

October 10, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Extinction of Badvertising – Part II : The Sadistics

Catwoman-batman-villains-1421046-1024-753

 

Two days after I attended the painful conference, I was invited to a dinner hosted in a well-known club of Shanghai. For some reasons, a friend invited me to join and taste some scotch. More accurately, the scotch brand was pampering a bunch of people for some allegedly engaging experience with whisky. I’m a wine-champagne person, but the epicurean side of me always goes for new tastes.Curiosity kills the cat, they say..

 
After a nice chat in the lounge warmed up by some straight up scotch served in martini glasses, we were cordially invited to another lounge where a couple tables were waiting for us. On the tables was something highly disturbing, and I’m not talking about the whisky – although it can surely disturbs some of your senses : I am talking about wireless headphones…
 
I would have liked to escape, really. Sometimes freedom is more valuable than politeness. But as a loyal friend, I sat down and put the headphones on my ears.
 

Picture this : you are sitting at a table watching a screen where a logo revolves while a Chinese advertising voice is bribing again and again in your ears about the excellent whisky you are supposedly tasting. Next to the screen, the “brand ambassador” is giving the good example wearing headphones himself and lifting his glass with a very much inspired look on his face.

 
Very, very natural.
 
After that deep “immersion with the brand” cession, we were allowed to seat for dinner. Do I have to add that we couldn’t order anything else besides that whisky? oh, and water.
 
At that point my friend suggested “You should write about that : submissive advertising“. Right on.
 
I do not know if this kind of branding event really works. Maybe I am not the right target. Maybe you should do that only with people already familiar with your brand/product. I’m talking about the dinner, not the headphones. Never, I say never, do the headphones thing.
 
That made me think, if advertising is so sadistic sometimes – does that mean we are masochists?
 
The dinner ended and frankly, we couldn’t wait to go to the bar and order some non-whisky drink.
 
To be continued …
September 30, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments »

The extinction of Badvertising – Part I : The Dinosaurs

The article is actually longer than I thought so I organised my reflexion into several parts – here is Part I : The Dinosaurs
bd
 
 

Once upon a time, dinosaurs were fooling around and eating alive all kinds of preys. They were big, fierce, almost invulnerable. Until they extinct.  Among the few extinction theories – asteroid collision, climate change, geomagnetic reversal, my favorite one is the least in which dinosaurs became too heavy to move and, unable to adapt, died from starvation.

 

This little dino story occured to me when I was attending a conference about online advertising. See any direct relation ? No? Well I wish I haven’t either but I did.

 

Now I know I write in a playful tone but it’s not funny. I had gone all the way through Shanghai to Pudong (in which I was lost on my way back to downtown), let my team struggle with an incalculate number of issues, made phone calls on the back of the cab for what? Hear a guy proudly introduce intrusive banners on a ppt.

“This kind of ad is very effective”

he declared, pushing a button to play a video in which a Chinese robot-like male voice proclaimed a slogan. The whole room listened religiously and some nodded. I don’t know how many of you actually listen to these kinds of video ads. Personally I hate any unsolicited noise coming from my screen – and I like to think I’m not the only one.

 

At first I thought he was joking. This is Shanghai 2009, come on! I was waiting for him to introduce other advertising models. To say, maybe, “Brands, here are also some other ways to engage with your audience“…He did not. And I’m talking about the head of a big advertising agency in China.

 

Does the dinosaurs allegory make sense now?

 

Some big advertising agencies are dinosaurs. The T-Rex and his pals were having a good time when they were eating out big budgets from big companies. But then, a magnetic pole reversal occured as new e-marketing practices came in the picture. Some dinos are too slow to move. Now there is a crisis big time out there (asteroid collision, climate change anyone?) and companies are more cautious, more demanding about their investment.

 

If advertising companies don’t reverse their own poles, they won’t adapt. And it will be, I predict! the extinction of Badvertising. Finally..

Meanwhile, small, light creatures companies able to keep on innovating are under the big brands radar and thus, surviving.

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

September 29, 2009 | BuzzandtheCity | Tags: , , | 5 Comments »
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