Data, Data Everywhere, But Not a Drop To Drink

This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Marketing Magazine.

By Harold Li

From Klout scores to Facebook’s ‘talking about’ numbers, a sea of bad data surrounds us online. And, while you may be in need of data to help evaluate your work and justify your budget, I urge you to be wary when consuming it. Just as drinking too much saltwater can cause dehydration and perhaps even drive you insane, working with bad data is counterproductive and can impair your ability to properly assess situations.

But, of course, in those desperate moments of thirst, the seemingly easy way is quite tempting. We know that tallies of Twitter followers do not mean much on their own, but, when the numbers look good, it is easy to mark that as a success and call it a day. We also know that Klout is not a true measure of influence, but we rely on it nonetheless.

“Close enough,” we say. “Just one sip.”

Impressive claims of online impact and influence abound, but more often than not, the actual data behind it proves nothing of the sort. For example, touting a brand’s high social impact based simply on its total number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers is misleading and not just harmless spin. Conflating (theoretical) reach with impact is damaging.

Bad data is worse than no data.

These situations are becoming increasingly common because measurement is not yet a principal go-to tool in most communicators’ toolboxes. It has long been treated as an afterthought or chore – or as a libation at the altar of the C-suite – and campaigns suffer as a result. More recently, measurement has been elevated to the status of buzzword, but little else.

When done well, measurement can be a critical strategic asset that makes campaigns more effective. Solid data that’s directly correlated with objectives not only demonstrates return on investment, but also helps you refine tactics throughout campaigns and make better strategic decisions in the future. Ensuring objectives are measureable also forces you to articulate them with more clarity and specificity. Evidence-based communication is simply better communication; the right data makes success easier to achieve.

The flipside is that when you fail to measure properly, it is at the expense of your goals. What you measure is what you get. Just as ad value equivalencies once drove a focus on quantity over quality, Facebook ‘likes’ as a key metric leads to a focus on garnering ‘likes’ at the expense of other factors. Unless that is one of your objectives (and there are legitimate cases where it may be), don’t be ensnared by the easy-to-measure nature of this and other similar figures.

Instead, focus solely on metrics that are directly linked to or are “surrogates” for objectives. They should mirror the impact you’re expecting from your campaign. How do you expect it to change what your stakeholders are saying about you, how they’re thinking of you and how they’re behaving in relation to you? And how do you measure that? From this type of sound data, you will be able to draw meaningful insights and conclusions, and then act accordingly.

Measuring the right things and measuring them correctly may take considerable time and resources, but the results are of immense value. As Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper once said, “one accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.” And as a Navy woman, she most certainly knew about the dangers of drinking seawater.

- Harold Li is Assistant Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Hong Kong.

Social CRM, getting the basics right in Asia Pacific

In Asia, we think a lot about customer relationships online and how to best use social media in our Asia Pacific markets to create authentic and sustainable connections – through digital storytelling – in order to build loyalty and advocacy for the brands, organizations and companies that we represent.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has always been a challenging field for companies, and with the rise of Social Media, the field has become more sophisticated, and the opportunities for connecting and creating more intimate and longer-lasting relationships, only stronger.

Check out this cool INFOGRAPHIC, courtesy of Social Times, that visually explains the difference between CRM and Social CRM.

Fascinating stuff.

- Zaheer Nooruddin

D/BM l Analytics Strategy Activation l Social, Mobile and Digital at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. D/BM analyzes real-time conversations, strategizes content and influence, and activates digital storytelling for better corporate reputation and marketing in Asia-Pacific.

India, social media coming into its own and the epic rise of mobile l Burson-Marsteller Asia Pacific

Being Indian as I am, when I take a look at the country’s fascinatingly diverse and colourful digital and social media ecosystem, it reminds me of what is to me the most striking feature of modern India herself today: A nation poised on the cusp of unimaginable transformation, with limitless opportunities and possibilities ahead… if only…

Today there are approximately 120 million Indians online. That staggeringly massive figure, in just about any other country, constitutes roughly just 10% of India’s mammoth, continent-sized population.

Sixty percent of Indians online today use social networks. Not all as active as others. Some are very heavy users – the Twitter addicts of Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore, and the urban elite on Facebook. Most others have their own private networks, quite often on smaller networks, including dating networks.

So the approximate 70 M Indians that do use social networks, a core group of 25 to 30 million can be defined as “heavy users”. This group returns to check their profiles and streams 1-3 times per day on average. Many of this set access their networks via mobile devices and site apps on iOS, Android and Windows.

The top eight metro cities that account for the highest online traffic are Bombay (Mumbai), Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Interestingly, a significant sixty percent of India’s social networking traffic comes from Non Metro-Cities. These are smaller cities and towns. This shows the geographical spread of social networking and online usage in India – far beyond just the traditional bases of infrastructure.

Seventy percent of internet users in India are male. Which leaves the female percentage at just thirty. This is an intriguing statistic, and proves that India has yet to tap the internet for knowledge sharing and as an educational resource – fields where women tend to dominate towards self-empowerment.

Let’s look at some other demographics. For example, Age: the most active demographic of Indians on the internet – via PC and Mobile – is the 15 to 24 age group. Students spend more time on the internet in India than any other group. Looking for academic and career opportunities plays a big part of how young people in India’s youth-dominated population (India is one of the world’s youngest countries with some forty percent of its population under the age of 25.)

With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that social media and online usage finds itself at its highest with the 15-24 demographic, India’s largest, who are ambitious, hungry for opportunities and a chance at success, and are looking for places to apply for university and for jobs.

India’s 25-34 age segment is the next most active. This group represents the young urban and semi-urban elites of India. Working in offices, looking for their next big break, and networking with their friends.

Of the 35 plus Indians who are online, we see a drop in social media and networking activity. Generally speaking, this older group of non-digital natives prefers to browse and read news, reviews, finance, business and entertainment and watch video (consume content) from traditional portals.

Coming back to Social media then, a core group of twenty million users in India are social addicts, checking their feeds and streams once a day on average. Where do they spend their time? On social services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Orkut - statistically the three top social networks in India today.

Facebook’s rise to a dominant, market-leading position in India has been well-publicized over the last year. Facebook today commands 46M subscribed Indian users. A rich group of elites and urban hopefuls. India’s most modern set and arguably, the country’s most “valuable” database of 15-40 year old urban Indians.

Facebook has seen its subscriber base double in the last 6 months, and is rapidly growing in India, whereas Orkut is shrinking or at most holding steady by most estimates.

LinkedIn is also popular in India, with over twenty five million professional Indians, having built their profiles there. This 25-34 age group is exclusively of India’s white-collar, upper middle class working elites. Many look for exciting jobs beyond India’s shores, while still others look to network and court the best talent from overseas to come to India.

Interestingly, most social networking activity in India takes place between 6 pm and 10 pm – in the evening. For anyone who has ever lived and worked in India, and is familiar with the hard schedule of most professionals, running from pillar to post with one task after the other, this will not come as too big a surprise. Indians tends to network when they relax, and Indians are traditionally highly social people, always looking to expand their spheres of influence and their groups.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH DIGITAL CONTENT IN INDIA.

Entertainment is the key driver of content online in India and the most popular type of content. Like people everywhere else, Indians too love to watch videos online, making it a popular content type – especially entertainment and news content. If there is ever a cricket match on, sites like Cricinfo.com and ESPN quickly become the most trafficked and used sites in India.

Seventy percent of online Indians use the online reviews and sites make purchase decisions and to form opinions about products, issues and organizations. What do Indians like to do when they are in their social networks? Social networking usage is topped by Interactive Games/Apps, and viewing Videos and Photos.

As it is elsewhere, so too in India, search engines are a powerful driver of opinion-forming and information gathering. Search is used equally by all demographics in India. Google is by far the search leader in India.

In the next six months forty five thousand online Indians will sign up to social networking sites – each day!

In a recent study, a quarter of all online Indians were able to recall brands that they came across using social media.

A very significant sixty seven percent of Indians who are on the web today use online reviews to help them make purchases and form purchase decisions around products and brands. That’s over seventy million of India’s wealthiest and most prosperous demographic.

Sixty percent of Indians who use social media sites say that they are open to being approached by brands. Individual privacy is not as big a concern online in India as it is in some other developed markets. Indians are used to less personal space and maybe that is why they do not mind brand invasion as much.

Indians spend more time on social media than they do checking email.

Overall, social media usage in India is growing at 100 percent year-on-year. Indeed, the only constraint in the growth of social media is the growth of India’s internet penetration itself, largely due to its famed infrastructural challenges as a nation.

INDIA – MOBILE NATION

India has eight hundred million mobile subscriptions already. In India some individuals have two SIM cards. So, with this in mind, unique subscribers is in the region of five hundred and fifty million. The number of mobile subcriptions increases by twenty million each month!

While mobile payment gateways in India are sophisticated and many banks have begun experimenting with how to use these for transactions with customers, mobile shopping and e-retailing is still very much in its infancy in India.

-Smartphone penetration is growing in the Top 8 Metros, but is still low overall, and expected to grow with more affordable devices and 3G coming into the market.

And finally, in our whirlwind tour around the state of India’s internet, online and mobile advertising is massive: ten billion ads are served on mobile every month. Yes, ten billion. Indians are increasingly connecting to their networks and to the internet via their mobile devices.

Here is a list of the top 10 social sites in India now:

1. Facebook
2. LinkedIn 
3. Orkut
4. iBibo
5. BharatStudent
6. Myspace
7. Hi5
8. Fropper
9. Bigadda
10. Perfspot 

Just How Influential Are You? Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific D/BM social media

Hong Kong, April 18, 2012

The fact of the matter is that the notion of “Influence” can be a tricky thing…

Ask yourself these questions: What does it mean to be influential? Is influence in social media and online about the number of followers that a brand has? Having a sizable community to engage with and who engages back is certainly critical to social media influence.

Does it also matter on how many networks a company has communities and followings? And if it is indeed about more than only the numbers, then what other qualitative metrics that can be considered to measure influence?

Quality of comments? Frequency of posts…?

At Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, across our social media network, we believe that the concept of “influence” plays a central role when defining the utility of social media for companies as they manage communications and marketing successfully.

In Asia, with the rapid rise of social media influence strategies, to deliver better digitally-driven reputation management and brand marketing success for companies, has come the challenge of “how to measure” influence effectively and meaningfully.

Engaging for – and towards – influence can only be credible for marketing and communications if a robust measurement framework is made possible; a reporting framework that accounts for the nature of social media. Think real-time content, conversations, comments, reposts, and the constantly changing paradigms of social technology, not to mention the evolution of individual personas, digital communities, and social networks themselves.

A robust measurement framework for social media influence must ultimately be integrated into digital marketing measurement. Social Influence is after all, a piece of the larger puzzle in marketing-communications, ie. brand-building, reputation and perception management, leads generation, and sales.

Social media influence has brought with it the birth of a great number of innovative start-up companies, looking to become “the leading authority” on how to measure Social Influence, and on how to capture and provide sophisticated data analytics around digital consumer behavior and mapping.

I recently reviewed some of the more popular services accessible today, who are playing the social media influence measurement game, around the world, and in Asia-Pacific.

For instance, take Peoplebrowsr, a web analytics product from Kred. Kred plays in the space of how to measure the “social media influence” of individuals and brands. For these analytic start ups and their influence monitoring technologies, the key challenge to overcome going forward to develop large-scale credibility within the marketing industry will be transparency to their methodologies. For example, many social media influence analytics are mainly Twitter-centric (and therefore not representative of the social web as a whole). Overall, the value of these services can be considered as ambiguous within the digital marketing measurement mix – at least for the time-being.

Or Klout. Considered by many in the marketing-communications industry as the leader in international social media influence measurement. Klouts service measures influence based on a users activity and ability to spur engagement. Delivering a “Klout Score” to all Twitter accounts, using data from Twiiter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other global social media sites, Klout measures that influence on a scale of 100. Klout defines a social media presence’s true reach, how much you influence them (amplification), and how influential they are (network score), and delivers a score.

Then there’s PostRank. A service that monitors digital content and events in real time across the social web. The services gathers data about which stories generate the most comments, likes and shares, from a list of the top international social networks.

Or TwentyFeet. A metrics aggregator for major international social media and Web properties. The service delivers metrics by gathering data from Twitter, Facebook, bit.ly, YouTube, Google, and RSS feeds. With its cool interface, it delivers these metrics in an accessibly manner. It also has a cool notification feature.

Don’t miss checking out Appinions. Useful for digital publishers, Appinions is an opinions-powered platform that makes it easy to identify and engage with social media influencers. Appinions features an opinions database extracted from blogs, Twitter, Facebook, forums, newspaper and magazines around the world, including other media channels like TV and Radio.

My Web Career lets users measure their “digital footprint”. Useful for exploring the way various social personas and presences connect across the social web, the service is a good mapping tool.

And finally, last but not least, the PeerIndex service that uses social activity on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to measure an influence score. With the catchy title of “Own Your Influence” this start-up service, at first deceivingly simple, is definitely one to watch out for as its technology scales across markets and geographies.

The above social media influence measurement and analytics services are just a few of the most notable start-up and early-growth companies in the global social media influence analytic tech space.

At Burson-Marsteller in Asia-Pacific, we find social media influence to be, arguably, the most exciting field within social media strategy planning. Let us know anytime if you need help and want to discuss more.

- Zaheer Nooruddin

Zaheer Nooruddin is the lead digital strategist and regional social media practice leader at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific’s social media network. At D/BM we listen to communities and influencers, plan social media strategy, and mobilize campaigns for better brand marketing and reputation management in the digital age.

China’s Wei-people and Wei-influencers: Burson-Marsteller China’s Weibo Social Media E Book

China’s ‘Wei-people’ and ‘Wei-influencers’: Burson-Marsteller China’s new Weibo Social Media Strategy

Beijing, February 29, 2012 – Who are China’s ‘Wei-people’ and ‘Wei-influencers’? Burson-Marsteller today announced the expansion of its fully-integrated social media and digital content marketing services in China. The leading global PR and communications consultancy firm, with five offices in Mainland China, also released a new social media strategy guidebook: “Weibo: Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation, Crisis Preparedness and Digital Communications in China.”

Burson-Marsteller’s China social media strategy guidebook outlines an actionable framework towards online reputation management, crisis preparedness and brand communications on weibo – China’s home-grown Twitter-like microblogging services – from developing a social media strategy to measuring results. Developed by D/BM, the firm’s integrated digital marketing-communications and social media practice in China, the weibo guidebook shares Burson-Marsteller China’s perspectives on how to plan stronger digital communications, track issues and listen to communities in real-time and mobilize corporate and brand reputation campaigns.

“With over 500 million Chinese online, many using mobile devices, social media’s potential for corporate and brand reputation management and marketing is limitless. But an integrated and strategic approach to digital communications is critical”, said Zaheer Nooruddin, Burson-Marsteller China’s lead digital strategist. “Companies operating in China recognize the opportunities of social media, but they face challenges. When developing digital content and building communities, the lack of a cohesive strategy leads to unclear outcomes and low return on investment. Tactical approaches to social media affect a company’s reputation, marketing and sales.  Our latest social media strategy guide addresses the core challenges companies in China face connecting to ‘Wei-people’ and ‘Wei-influencers’.”

Burson-Marsteller’s expanded suite of integrated social media services delivers customized solutions around digital content, influencers, crisis and search. The firm’s powerful new line of social media products include digital content planning, development and distribution, digital influencer mapping and online crisis preparedness.

“Digital tools and social media communities arrive and evolve with tremendous speed and scale in China, with much of this activity taking place on weibo,” said Chris Deri, CEO and Market Leader, Burson-Marsteller China. “For both domestic and foreign companies operating in China today, any reputation management or stakeholder engagement effort should be built upon a complete understanding and appreciation of weibo. These platforms must be fully integrated into a firm’s communication strategies, programs and measurement activities.”

The firm’s new social media strategy guidebook, co-authored by Zaheer Nooruddin, head of D/BM, and Leon Zhang (张亮), Burson-Marsteller China’s Digital Strategy & Insights Lead, lays out seven actionable steps to improve corporate reputation, crisis preparedness and brand communications, using China’s weibo platforms.

“Weibo: Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation, Crisis Preparedness and Digital Communications in China.” is available for free download in both English and Mandarin on Slideshare.

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About D/BM

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integrated social media practice. D/BM monitors issues and communities, plans campaigns and strategy, and mobilizes corporate and consumer-driven content for better reputation and marketing in the digital age.

About Burson-Marsteller 

Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis management, advertising and web-related strategies. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 73 offices and 82 affiliate offices, together operating in 108 countries across six continents.  Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Group, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), the world’s leading communications services network.

To learn more about Burson-Marsteller visit www.burson-marsteller.com.

Engagement in Social Media Conversation is Most Important – Asian Business Leaders

By YUE Wei, published March 2012 edition of Asian Business Leaders

“For the 27 years that we’ve been in China, our job remains the same: to listen to our clients and their target audiences, get clients’ information to these target audiences, and create powerful and trustworthy relationships between them,” said Chris Deri to summarize  the role of Burson-Marsteller in China.

Chris Deri stressed this was true before the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, and even mobile phones.

As early as 4-5 years ago, Burson-Marsteller observed the industry’s shift towards social media, and started to treat it as a very special phenomenon changing the way people get and share information in their social and professional lives.  Last year, Burson-Marsteller re-launched its integrated Digital and Social Media Influencer Practice (D/BM) to make sure the company is thinking about digital and customers’ needs in the most up-to-date way possible. Burson-Marsteller takes a very strong integrated approach towards D/BM, which sits at the center of the company, working across all offices, practice areas and largest customers.

In addition, Burson-Marsteller has built proprietary tools and software to listen and identify true key influencers online in real time.

Chris Deri pointed out that a big change in modern companies, from a communications point-of-view, is that companies cannot survive if they take a one-way communications approach.

The brand must engage in the conversation rather than solely deliver their own corporate messages. They will fail if they try to control the conversation.

PR companies play an instrumental role in building trust and credibility in the conversation. Specifically, Burson-Marsteller is committed to creating the right content for its clients, putting this content into the conversations, managing online communities and making sure that clients are up-to-date on the latest conversations.

(translated)

Social Media Strategies for Leading Brands – Burson-Marsteller at The Internet Show Asia 2012

Join Zaheer Nooruddin, Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific at two sessions at the Internet Show Asia 2012 on April 26:

-       Session 1: “Creating Digital Content to Build Connections and Develop Customer Relationships”

-       Session 2: “How to Optimize Video Delivery for Consumer Satisfaction”

Click here to watch the video

In the digital age, all businesses need to be excelling in their internet strategy in order to take advantage of the huge opportunities of the online world. Whether it be social media marketing and engagement, e-commerce revenue growth, cloud infrastructure success, digital advertising and brand awareness, superior web content and online experiences or online video marketing and interaction – we all need to know what’s available and how to use it to maximise impact.

So how do we become digital pioneers and high-flyers?

In my opinion, aside from being creative, it’s best to understand how our peers across Asia are coming up with internet strategies that give you ROI and retain ownership of the customer.

Decode the future of digital at The Internet Show Asia 2012 today.

On 25 – 27 April 2012 in Singapore, I will be joining over 45 experts from Singapore, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and many other neighbouring countries at this regional event.

Best practices, innovations and ideas will be shared as to how businesses in Asia can make use of the internet to grow competitive advantages. Join me in this exciting high-level strategic forum.

See you in April!

Zaheer Nooruddin

Digital CMO

Lead Digital Strategist, Asia-Pacific

Burson-Marsteller

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The Internet Show Asia 2012 at Singapore’s Suntec Centre:

1. The one & only definitive internet business show in Asia
2. Transform your business with internet tools and technology
3. Discover digital business models to monetise online activities
4. Explore online innovations to remain relevant in this connected world
5. Stand out from the crowd with new & improved customer engagement strategies
6. Gain insights on capitalising on booming opportunities in the e-space for all businesses and enterprises
7. Learn how to drive ROI for online marketing initiatives and campaigns
8. The place to build partnerships, network, and do business

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integrated digital marketing and social media communications expertise. D/BM listens to issues and communities, plans brand and corporate digital strategy, and mobilizes consumer-driven content to promote better reputation in the digital age. Internet Show Asia 2012

Brands Rush to Tap China’s Digital Boom – Burson-Marsteller China weighs in

[“A big concern luxury brands do have with the social media space is if they enter a platform like Weibo, for example, are they on the same playing field as every other brand and what does that do to their brand equity and their brand image?” said Zaheer Nooruddin, the lead digital strategist for public relations firm Burson-Marsteller’s Greater China operations.]

By LARA FARRAR

SHANGHAI — There are arguably two final frontiers for foreign brands seeking to expand their market share in China: one is smaller cities across the country; the other is the Internet.

Aside from all the talk about which cities could be the next sweet spot for international brands, it seems everyone — from fast-fashion companies to luxury labels — is exploring the best way to navigate an exploding Chinese digital terrain comprised of more than 450 million Web users, which makes the country home to the largest online population on Earth.

“It is an interesting topic, and it is certainly very timely,” said Sage Brennan, founder of China Luxury Network, a consultancy that provides brands with intelligence about affluent Chinese consumers. “The most powerful consumers in China are young, and they are online, and they are not only the future for these brands, but they are the present in many cases.”

Seventy percent of China’s netizens, as Internet users are called in the country, are under 34, while 41 percent have college degrees, according to a 2010 McKinsey report on how brands can profit from China’s digital landscape. More than 70 percent make at least 55,000 yuan annually (about $18,000), an income that McKinsey classifies as middle class. Chinese consumers are online an average of 19 hours a week, the study said.

By 2015, McKinsey said it expects the urban Internet PC penetration to reach 66 percent, which is similar to the penetration in Western Europe today, while the rural penetration will double to close to 30 percent.

“There is a lot of learning to be done,” added Brennan. “There is an incredible flux right now in this sector, and obviously every brand in the world wants to figure it out.”

One thing to understand about the Internet in China is that it is inherently and overwhelmingly social. Aside from playing games or watching movies and other forms of entertainment, the Chinese log on largely for one main purpose: to talk to each other. Half of the country’s Web users regularly use blogs and social media, according to Nielsen, while one third participate in online discussion forums, known in China as BBS, or Bulletin Board Systems.

The BBS has long been a mainstay of China’s online social world. Emerging in the late Nineties on college campuses as spaces for students to share academic information, the rather rudimentary platforms have since become pervasive digital places where netizens interested in specific topics ranging from automobiles to baby products congregate to talk. There are countless BBS on the Chinese Internet, divided not only by topics but also region, age, gender and income.

They are also spaces where Chinese search for shopping advice. Eighty percent of BBS users seek out the opinions of others online when making purchasing decisions, according to research from the Shanghai-based social media consultancy CIC, which coined the term “Internet word of mouth,” or IWOM, which refers to online chatter about brands and products on BBS or other forums. CIC says that nearly 60 percent of respondents in a survey made final purchasing decisions based upon the recommendations and opinions of other Internet users.

Almost 50 percent of netizens will share their product experiences post-purchase, CIC research says.

Two of the country’s most popular fashion BBS include “Only Lady” and “Metroer.”

According to Sam Flemming, head of CIC, BBS are key places for brands to connect with, and to understand, target audiences: “It is important for any brand to be able to impact the influential and the most informed, connected consumers out there for their market. That is the beautiful thing about BBS. At the very least, you should be listening to what is being said there,” Flemming said. “However, engagement is a little more difficult.”

Flemming recommends companies launch campaigns for sampling their products or contests on BBS. Another tactic is to identify key influencers within the community and approach them to discuss new products or make announcements about the brand on the forum.

Some companies, such as Lancôme, have opted to start their own BBS. In 2006, the cosmetics brand launched its Rose Beauty BBS, which, with 4 million subscribers, has remained one of the top beauty forums in the country and is a commonly cited example of one of the top online brand strategies in China to date.

Rose Beauty includes features such as pages where members can rate products, comment on them and share them on other social networking sites. Members can take part in contests to receive free trials of new products. There are videos with special beauty lessons, as well as columns with contributions from writers of influential fashion magazines and blogs. Another section is a user-generated shopping guide based on photos that members post of recent purchases. And there is a special e-magazine and additional page with the latest news and offers from Lancôme.

“The best practice is obviously Lancôme’s Rose Beauty,” said Charles de Brabant, founder and chief executive of luxury consultancy Saint Pierre, Brabant, Li and Associates and a professor of luxury branding at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. “It is service driven, identifying what people want and what is important to them. It is actually giving to people before the brand receives back.”

On the opposite end of the social media spectrum is the ubiquitous and infamous (at least in China) Sina Weibo, a micro-blog platform operated by the Internet giant Sina Corp., which has a staggering 250 million-plus users. Flemming of CIC describes the site as “the zeitgeist for China.”

“If you want to know what happens in China, open up your Weibo account and see what people are talking about,” he said. Sina Weibo is becoming the de facto platform for brands to launch social media campaigns.

Some in the industry say the micro-blog is starting to drain users — and advertising dollars — from social networks such as Renren and Kaixin001, Facebook-like sites that attracted swells of members largely via social games.

While the hundreds of thousands of registered users the two sites say they have is nothing to ignore, there is a noticeable decline in the number of brands seeking to launch campaigns on Renren and Kaixin001, according to Rand Han, a strategy director at Resonance China, a Shanghai-based social media digital agency.

According to Han, Renren, which is popular among teenagers and college students, still has relevance for fashion companies aiming for younger generations. But brands are losing interest in Kaixin001, which has a similar white-collar demographic of users as Sina Weibo. “From our point of view, no clients are asking for Kaixin001,” Han says. “Sina Weibo targets the same market as Kaixin001, and on Weibo you have a sense of a larger connection [with Internet users].”

Having a presence on Sina Weibo — which Han describes as “Twitter and Facebook mashed together [users can add videos and photos directly into posts, send private messages with attachments and use instant-messaging tools]” — is as simple as opening up a Twitter or Facebook account. However, it takes more than building a special brand page on the site to find followers.

“It is not like a sudden burst of awareness,” Han said. “You are building a relationship with your target market over time. Brand managers expect huge numbers right away, and that puts a lot of pressure on local agencies to deliver.”

Not unlike crafting messages for social networking sites in the West, content dispersed on Sina Weibo has to be creative: “Brand images and press releases are not very viral,” said Han, who recommends companies sync up communication strategies with celebrities.

“Any celebrity content connected to a brand, that gets a lot of tweets,” he said, adding that launching contests, polls and other questions on Weibo can also be effective for adding followers.

Audi, which ranked first this year on an annual top 100 list created by L2 Think Tank that measure’s brand digital IQ on the Mainland, has more than 61,000 followers for its branded Sina Weibo page, which features an interactive driving-experience game that rewards winners with gadgets, like an iPad. The car company also maintains separate Weibo pages for a number of its car models.

According a 2011 white paper on social media and luxury brands in China from CIC and GroupM, a media investment management group, Chanel was the most talked about brand on Chinese micro-blogs, with nearly 600,000 mentions between January and May 2011, while Burberry was the most “engaged” brand with 43,000 re-tweets during the same time period. H&M and Converse also are popular on micro-blogs, especially among consumers born after 1980.

There are questions as to how much luxury brands should be talking to customers or potential customers online, though, especially on Chinese micro-blogs.

“A big concern luxury brands do have with the social media space is if they enter a platform like Weibo, for example, are they on the same playing field as every other brand and what does that do to their brand equity and their brand image?” said Zaheer Nooruddin, the lead digital strategist for public relations firm Burson-Marsteller’s Greater China operations. “The power of a channel like Weibo has made it impossible for luxury brands not to create a presence. The opportunity is much greater than the challenge.”

Zaheer Nooruddin said luxury companies that have executed their presence on the micro-blog the best have been ones that have made sure they have a customized, beautifully designed brand page; incorporated premium content, such as well-produced videos, and engagement with fans in a “more discreet manner.”

“It is not so much about creating a huge amount of buzz,” he said. “But it is more about engaging with a small niche audience.”

One luxury brand continually cited as executing an unparalleled strategy not only on Sina Weibo but across a number of social platforms in China is Burberry. In 2011, Burberry ranked second on L2 Think Tank’s digital IQ scorecard. The brand has more than 300,000 followers on its Sina Weibo page, which features product videos, pictures and celebrity sightings.

A live-stream of Burberry’s Milan fashion show garnered over 1 million views on Youku.com, China’s top online video portal, while the brand’s April fashion show in Beijing was live-streamed on nearly 20 Chinese Web sites. Burberry says it was the first luxury brand in China to launch on multiple social media sites on each of which it has created tailored content.

One such site includes Douban.com, on which Burberry showcases music-related content.

Douban is considered China’s hip social network. Its users are classified as geeks, intellectuals and hipsters who log on to talk about books, music, movies and social issues, and it is gaining traction among companies whose products lend themselves to more creative marketing campaigns, according to Han of Resonance China.

There are other social sites beyond Sina Weibo. Tencent, another one of China’s massive Internet companies, has its own micro-blog. The platform is not as popular for marketing campaigns but could soon be. Nearly 80 percent of Chinese netizens use both Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, according to a study released in December by Admaster, an online ad-tracking company.

P1.CN is a private, invite-only social network targeting affluent members or members with a particular interest in fashion and lifestyle. The site invites its members to exclusive offline events with luxury companies and offers special brand pages and other features to share information about products.

According to P1.CN founder Yu Wang, the social network sold a Lamborghini during its first event with the Italian carmaker. Thirty members attended, he said.

“Most other social networks are not targeting this group,” Yu said. “We have managed to gather a very big portion of the target market for luxury brands. They can actually talk to the right kind of people, and they get to see these people offline, what kind of people they are. You would not be able to do this with any other kind of media.”

Taobao is also getting into the social media game. Earlier in December, China’s online shopping site revealed plans to build an e-commerce social network for its 400 million registered users. Already Taobao and its various shopping platforms have generated a host of influential bloggers spread across the country’s social media ecosystem, who comment on and share photos of fashion and other products they buy.

Twin sisters who call themselves “Qiang Kou La Jiao” and post photos of the fashions they purchased on Taobao have hundreds of thousands of fans online, for example. “They became celebrities,” said Chen Yijia, who works with Xiu.com, an e-commerce site focusing on high-end labels. “Their influence is huge on Taobao.”

These so-called grassroots online celebrities — who can be anyone from a white-collar office lady to a college student — are a unique and pervasive part of China’s online social landscape, and more brands are engaging with them to help promote products and events.

According to research from CIC and GroupM, self-made Internet stars “have an aspirational quality that particularly resonates with young people.” Half of the most talked about celebs on Sina Weibo are grassroots celebrities.

“We collaborate with more than 400 bloggers directly,” Thibault Villet, head of Glamour Sales China, an online shopping site focusing on luxury sales. “I can tell you my highest ROI has been through social media marketing, which means using bloggers and trend advisers.

Ultimately, the big question is how do you monetize? Brands are building this presence online, the digital marketing, but how do they track this ROI? At what stage does it ultimately translate to buyers? How do you measure that?”

Coach is one of many brands upping investment in their Chinese digital footprint. The company recently hired its own in-house team in its Shanghai headquarters, as well as a local agency to help plan and execute its online strategy, according to Jonathan Seliger, head of Coach’s China operations.

Seliger said the brand is working with bloggers, recently revamped its Sina Weibo page and is studying e-commerce. He said the effectiveness of Coach’s social media push will initially be measured by the amount of traffic driven to the brand’s Chinese site.

“In North America, Coach gets something like 75 million visitors per year. We would be lucky for 8 to 10 percent of that by the end of this year [2011],” Seliger said. “That is a great measure to see if your online strategy is really working.”

But opening physical stores, especially in smaller cities, is still Coach’s top priority.

“We are here to build stores and to build our market share,” Seliger said. “Our awareness is certainly growing in the marketplace, so we feel confident we can go into second- and third tier cities and stick that flag in the ground, and then support it with our digital strategy.”

- This report, written by Lara Farrar, was first published on Feb 20, 2012 in WWD.com.

China’s ‘Wei-people’ and ‘Wei-influencers’: Burson-Marsteller Launches New Social Media Services and Weibo Strategy Guidebook in China

NEWS RELEASE

New social media guidebook co-authored by Zaheer Nooruddin, D/BM’s head, and Leon Zhang, D/BM’s China Digital Strategy and Insights Lead, lays out actionable steps for managing corporate reputation online in China.

Beijing, February 29, 2012 – Who are China’s “Wei-people” and “Wei-influencers’”? Burson-Marsteller today announced the expansion of its fully-integrated social media and digital content marketing services in China. The leading global PR and communications consultancy firm, with five offices in Mainland China, also released a new social media strategy guidebook: “Weibo: Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation, Crisis Preparedness and Digital Communications in China.”

Burson-Marsteller’s China social media strategy guidebook outlines an actionable framework towards online reputation management, crisis preparedness, and brand communications on weibo – China’s home-grown Twitter-like microblogging services – from developing a social media strategy to measuring results. Developed by D/BM, the firm’s integrated digital marketing-communications and social media expertise for China, the “Weibo” guidebook builds upon Burson-Marsteller China’s perspectives on how to plan stronger digital communications, listen in real-time to issues and communities, and mobilize corporate and brand reputation campaigns for its clients.

“With over 500 million Chinese online, many using mobile devices, social media’s potential for corporate and brand reputation management and marketing is limitless. But an integrated and strategic approach to digital communications is critical”, said Zaheer Nooruddin, Burson-Marsteller China’s lead digital strategist. “Companies operating in China recognize the opportunities with social media, but they face challenges. When developing digital content and building communities, the lack of a cohesive strategy leads to unclear outcomes and low return on investment. Tactical approaches to social media affect a company’s reputation, marketing and sales.  Our latest social media strategy guide addresses the core challenges that companies in China face.”

Burson-Marsteller’s expanded suite of integrated social media services delivers customized solutions around digital content, influencers, crisis and search. The firm’s powerful new line of social media products include digital content planning, development and distribution, digital influencer mapping, and online crisis preparedness.

“Digital tools and social media communities arrive and evolve with tremendous speed and scale in China, with much of this activity taking place on weibo,” said Chris Deri, CEO and Market Leader, Burson-Marsteller China. “For both domestic and foreign companies operating in China today, any reputation management or stakeholder engagement effort should be built upon a complete understanding and appreciation of weibo. These platforms must be fully integrated into a firm’s communication strategies, programs and measurement activities.”

The firm’s new social media strategy guidebook, co-authored by Zaheer Nooruddin, head of D/BM, and Leon Zhang (张亮), Burson-Marsteller China’s Digital Strategy & Insights Lead, lays out seven actionable steps to better corporate reputation, crisis preparedness and brand communications, using China’s weibo  platforms.

“Weibo: Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation, Crisis Preparedness and Digital Communications in China.” is available for free e-download in both English and Mandarin  at digitalbursonmarsteller.com, Burson-Marsteller China’s digital community blog.

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Burson-Marsteller China                   

Weibo                          www.weibo.com/BMChina

Twitter                         www.twitter.com/DBMChina

China website                www.bmchina.com.cn

China digital blog            www.digitalbursonmarsteller.com

About D/BM

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integrated digital marketing-communications and social media expertise. D/BM listens to emerging issues and communities, plans results-driven strategy, and mobilizes corporate and consumer-driven content and programming to promote better reputation in the digital age. Visit digitalbursonmarsteller.com

About Burson-Marsteller 

Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis management, advertising and web-related strategies. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 73offices and 81 affiliate offices, together operating in 108 countries across six continents.  Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Group, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), the world’s leading communications services network. To learn more about Burson-Marsteller visit www.burson-marsteller.com.

Burson-Marsteller new Weibo E Book : Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation & Brand Marketing Communications in China

The rapid rise of Weibo – or microblogging – within just the last two years, has totally transformed the internet in China. With its 300+ Million-strong audience of “wei-people”, weibo services have transformed how consumers from throughout China’s vast geographies, engage with each other. It has also changed how consumers engage with brands, and is changing how brands engage with consumers.

The story of weibo in China has just begun. Weibo itself, is a service in rapid transformation. A breathtaking range of new social technologies is added to the interactive-rich features and programs on offer to both brands and consumers. Upgrades are common. Weibo is mobile. What began as China’s home-grown version of Twitter, has quickly and determinedly evolved into China’s home-grown version of… Facebook… but with  distinctive Chinese characteristics.

Nothing inside of China is the same outside of China. This can be said for its cuisines, its urban spaces, its scenic splendour – and its internet. China’s Great Firewall is also in play, but Weibo, first pioneered by the consumer technology company, Sina, and propelled by Tencent, two of China’s largest web ecosystems – among others – drives social media and information sharing in China. Weibo brings the very best of the Chinese web, from social networking to digital storytelling – in all its formats, from video to writing to music – right to your desk.

As with Facebook, with weibo also, companies and brands in China have the opportunity to live alongside their consumers online. Doing so for business takes the right approach and strategy. Weibo is arguably already the greatest force for corporate reputation, crisis preparedness and brand management in China. The opportunities are endless.

- Zaheer Nooruddin

Check out our new E Book on Weibo, entitled WEIBO: Seven Steps to Better Corporate Reputation, Crisis Preparedness and Digital Communications - out today and available here for free download.

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integration digital communications and social media expertise. D/BM listens to emerging issues and communities, plans results-driven strategy, and mobilizes corporate and consumer-driven content and programming to promote better reputation in the digital age.

Digital Crisis Matters 2012! A Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific INFOGRAPHIC

At Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, we like our brand-new infographic — Digital Crisis Matters! – that addresses a fascinating and emerging area of communications and reputation management – where Corporate Crisis meets Digital PR.

The data visualized is from key results from the recent Burson-Marsteller, PS-B Reputation in the Cloud Era: Digital Crisis Communications Study.

Preparing for and managing crisis events with digital communications and planning is of increased interest to corporations in Asia-Pacific – in these issues-rich and volatile times, and with the rise of social media.

At Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific we have developed and provide a comprehensive suite of “Digital Issues and Crisis” products and services. Our strategic, Evidence-Based approach to Digital Crisis planning and communications include:

-       Crisis Preparedness Digital Planning

-       Digital Crisis Simulation Workshops and Training

-       Digital Issues and Crisis Listening (digital and social monitoring), Analysis, and Reporting

-       Digital Crisis Management and Recovery Programming

We hope you find this infographic and the results that we have visualized from our recent study, as fascinating and immediate as we do.

For queries on our services and products around Digital Issues & Crisis, please contact Zaheer Nooruddin, Digital CMO at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

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D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integration digital communications and social media expertise. D/BM listens to emerging issues and communities, plans results-driven strategy, and mobilizes corporate and consumer-driven content and programming to promote better reputation in the digital age.

Social Media Influence in the Asia-Pacific [INFOGRAPHIC]

This infographic was borne out of interest and fascination with the colorful and dynamic landscape of social media channels in Asia-Pacific. Unlike other parts of the world, where Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate the mass social media landscape, in Asia-Pacific, each market has its own usage trends, and sometimes even home-grown social networks (such as China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan – to name some), that either dominate or hold fair share of the social networking marketplace and consumer usage and time spent.

Of course, trends in social media keep evolving, quickly, and we are watching the latest trends for each market. This infographic was conceived and developed by myself and the digital team at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific (with the help of a nifty designer).

We hope you like it and that it provides some insight into how diverse the social media playing field is here in Asia. It visualizes data from Google DoubleClick Ad Planner (gathered in Q4 2011) of top websites by reach (total views) and active users (unique views).

For more information on Burson-Marsteller’s perspectives on social media in Asia, please contact Zaheer Nooruddin, Digital CMO, Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Enjoy!

Zaheer Nooruddin on How Social Media is Empowering Global Communities and Movements

zaheer nooruddin social media week hong kong

SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK (SMW) HONG KONG
From One #BlueBraGirl to Ten Thousand Women Marching:
HOW SOCIAL IS EMPOWERING GLOBAL WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS

Hosted by: Women’s Media Networks (WMN)
Tuesday, February 14th
8:00am – 9:30am
Category: Advertising & Marketing

Register here

#SMWHKwmn

Whether it’s the historic protest of over 10,000 women on the streets of Cairo or the tireless tweeting for the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, social media is playing a key part in the liberation and empowerment of women globally.

Join our panel of experts as they discuss how social is shaping global political change.

Speakers include:

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO Asia-Pacific and lead digital strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller, an international communications firm. Co-author of the new book, “The Social Media MBA: Your Competitive Edge in Social Media Strategy Development and Delivery”, Zaheer is an experienced digital marketing and communications professional, with 14 years of experience as an Emerging Markets digital and social media specialist. Zaheer was previously the founding head of “Edelman Digital” in China, Edelman’s social media consultancy. Zaheer has also held posts at international digital marketing networks in APAC (Asia-Pacific) and MENA (Middle East & North Africa), including at BBDO/ Proximity, Ogilvy, and Wunderman. In his career, Zaheer has been based in New York City, Mumbai, Dubai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Zaheer studied at St Xavier’s College in Bombay, and graduated from the College of Wooster in Ohio, where he double-majored in Political Science and History.

- Mariko Sanchanta is a senior editor, Asia, for The Wall Street Journal. Based in Hong Kong, she oversees a team of Asia editors and coordinates and drives the Journal’s coverage across the region, with principal focus on corporate news. Prior to moving to Hong Kong in 2011, Mariko was deputy bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires in Tokyo. She joined the Journal in Japan in 2009 following ten years with the Financial Times. She began her career in journalism with the FT.com in New York, and subsequently worked in Japan as Tokyo correspondent and in London as Europe editor for corporate news, coordinating coverage across the entire continent. Mariko is a graduate of the College of William & Mary in the U.S. and spent a year studying at the London School of Economics in the U.K.

- Tara Joseph is the Executive Producer of TV at Thomson Reuters

- Dee Cheung is the Chairperson of V-Day Hong Kong 2006-2011 & Grassroots Activist

zaheer nooruddin social media week hong kong

Event Host: Women’s Media Networks

http://www.womenmedianetworks.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-Media-Networks-WMN

https://twitter.com/WMNAsiaPacific

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Women-Media-Networks

What is D/BM? D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s digital and social media consultancy. We map emerging influencers, plan innovative communications, and mobilize corporate and consumer-driven programming to promote better reputation in the digital age. Visit digitalbursonmarsteller.com

Establishing a Digital Presence in China : Burson-Marsteller and CDNetworks to jointly present best practices webinar

San Jose, California – February 1, 2012 – CDNetworks, the only multinational content delivery network with local expertise and infrastructure in China and across six continents, today announced that Zaheer Nooruddin, Digital Chief Marketing Officer, Asia-Pacific, at Burson-Marsteller, will be a guest speaker and join CDNetworks Chief Operating Officer, Americas & EMEA, Jeff Kim, in a webinar to discuss challenges and best practices for multinational companies seeking to establish their Web presence in China.

The webinar is scheduled to take place at 7:00 a.m. Pacific (10:00 a.m. Eastern) on Monday, February 6, 2012.
To register for the event, please click here.

About the Webinar
Hosted by the US-China Business Council, the discussion will center around the unprecedented opportunities in China and the proven methods organizations can employ to successfully expand their web business and brand equity into the largest Internet market in the world. In this webinar attendees will learn about:

• China’s Internet landscape and market opportunities
• Navigating the Great Firewall
• Website regulatory and licensing challenges
• Overcoming the Internet performance dilemma
• eCommerce in China and what it means for multinational businesses
• Website interfaces and the key considerations for Chinese audiences
• China’s dynamic social media landscape

About the Speakers
Co-author of the new book on international social media strategy development and delivery, “The Social Media MBA: Your Competitive Edge in Social Media Strategy Development and Delivery”, Zaheer Nooruddin is Burson-Marsteller’s Digital CMO for the Asia-Pacific region. Zaheer is also the firm’s Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China and the practice head of D/BM – Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media consultancy in China.

Jeff Kim is COO for CDNetworks Americas & EMEA and is responsible for overall business operations. Jeff’s responsibilities include leading sales, service, marketing, service and support. Jeff has championed the development of CDNetworks’ Web Performance Suite, and in positioning CDNetworks as the trusted global advisor to enterprise companies with mission critical applications. As a CDN industry veteran, Jeff brings extensive experience in sales, service and marketing to the company’s leadership team. Prior to joining CDNetworks, Jeff was an executive at BitGravity, a HD video delivery network. Jeff helped start the CDN industry as an early employee of Akamai where he conceptualized, developed and launched products that revolutionized the space.

About CDNetworks
CDNetworks enables mission critical e-business in the world’s most challenging markets. CDNetworks’ unique position as the only multinational CDN with expertise and infrastructure in China, and other emerging markets, makes us a trusted technology and business advisor to more than 1,200 companies across the highly-competitive industries of software, travel, eCommerce, high tech, manufacturing, media, and gaming. Reliably delivering over-the-top performance anywhere in the world, CDNetworks helps businesses get closer to their end users without the limitations of hardware and private networks. Founded in 2000, CDNetworks has offices in the U.S., Korea, China, Japan, the UK, and France. For more information, please visit: http://www.cdnetworks.com.

About Burson-Marsteller China
D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s digital and social media consultancy. D/BM identifies key online influencers in real-time, plans innovative communications, and mobilizes corporate and consumer programming to promote reputation in the digital age. With five offices in Mainland China, Burson-Marsteller is the leading public relations consultancy for organizations communicating in China and internationally. With a presence in the region dating back to 1973, Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific today includes 31 offices and affiliates in 16 countries integrated seamlessly into a global network operating in 98 countries. Our Evidence-Based approach to communications provides our clients with effective, data-driven programs delivered through multiple channels and focused on tangible, measurable results. Our regional team of more than 700 professionals offers a powerful combination of local knowledge, sector expertise and global communications reach.

Media Contacts

CDNetworks
John C. Tran
408-228-3382
john.tran@cdnetworks.com

Burson-Marsteller
Craig Adams
+86-186-8039-2662
craig.adams@bm.com

Zaheer Nooruddin The Holmes Report interview : Digital Dragons, Elephants and Tigers

This interview was originally published by The Holmes Report on 11 January 2012.
The original interview can be found here

Digital Briefing

Zaheer Nooruddin is regional digital CMO and lead digital strategist at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. Based in China, Nooruddin recently authored a chapter on social media in Asia in the new book, The Social Media MBA. In the interview below, Nooruddin discusses the challenges still facing the industry in Asia.

What are trends you are seeing regarding investment in social media?
Zaheer: As a region, I wouldn’t say clients aren’t taking it seriously but I wouldn’t say they are taking it as seriously as they should be. I feel that it requires a lot more attention. North Asia seems to have reached the point where it is getting attention. (In the West) you have firms like Altimeter and Forrester, and the industry as a whole is really listening to them. The issue is we don’t have that over here. I think clients here are still a couple of years behind the curve in terms of really understanding the area from a business perspective and a more integrated, holistic perspective. There are clients taking it seriously in terms of marketing, pumping in investment – but not in terms of social media comms, social CRM and social business – the serious long-term organisational game-changing elements.

Why do you think they are not taking it seriously enough?
Zaheer: It’s highly confusing for brands and marketers. Those struggles that mature markets were having in 2007 and 2008 are what Asian markets are having now. Obviously they have the benefits of learnings. In terms of social CRM, I think it’s not picking up because organisations never figured out how to do CRM. For social business, Asia is obviously culturally different. The hierarchical, societal structures are very apparent in business. Social business means an organisation can’t work in that way. So this is a transformational concept and I think Asia, from a cultural perspective, will struggle with it. I think the MNCs will do better than the local brands.

Are there any local brands that are doing it well?
Zaheer: There are some big local brands – in India, the telcos come to mind, like Tata Docomo. In China, a couple of financial sector companies – China Merchants Bank has really embraced social media in its many manifestations. China Mobile as well. In China, what surprises me is that one would have expected the MNCs to have done better with social media but actually it seems to me that some of the best cases are, oddly, some of the homegrown local banks.

What are the most important factors to bear in mind about social media usage in Asia?
It’s kind of a paradoxical answer. The first thing in terms of counselling clients who aren’t familiar, the same basic principles apply here, even in more unique markets like China, Korea and Japan. You have to start by listening and monitoring, gather the intelligence. The planning process is largely the same. But the channels are different. User behaviour in terms of how people react to content is vastly different in terms of cultural triggers. There are parts that need to be hyper-localised.

Which new platform has caught your eye?
Zaheer: Sina Weibo was the story of 2011. It has been so hyped, and justifiably so. It’s pretty much unprecedented in terms of how it’s led the rise of microblogging in China. I do see China being the standout market – a lot of innovation is coming from China. I don’t see any serious innovation coming out of India. Japan has the whole mobile space. The one case that stands out for me is Tencent in China – it’s got the largest system but it’s really the untold story. Their traditional user base is tier two and three and four cities, which gives marketers a huge new demographic. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Tencent Weibo is the big story in 2012. I think Sina Weibo is going to put up a tough fight but I see Tencent gathering pace really quickly.

Zaheer Nooruddin's Digital Dragons, Elephants and Tigers in The Social Media MBA

Establishing a Web Presence in China l Burson-Marsteller’s Zaheer Nooruddin co-hosts

Best Practices for Establishing Your Web Presence in China
Monday, February 6, 2012 | 10:00 am EDT (11:00 pm Beijing)

Opportunities abound in China for multinational companies seeking to expand their web and brand equity into the largest Internet market in the world. With these opportunities come unique challenges and important differences in how businesses an successfully establish their web presence.

Join the webinar on Feb 6 as Jeff Kim, COO for the United States & EMEA at CDNetworks, and Zaheer Nooruddin, Digital CMO, Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, present best practices for establishing your web presence in China.

Webinar attendees will learn about:

- China’s Internet landscape and market opportunities
- Navigating the Great Firewall
- Website Regulatory and Licensing Challenges
- Overcoming the Internet Performance Dilemma
- eCommerce in China and what it means for multinational businesses
- Website interfaces and the key considerations for Chinese audiences
- China’s dynamic social media landscape

Register here. Registration is free.

Zaheer Nooruddin talks to Sky News about “Digital Dragons, Elephants and Tigers”

This interview first appeared on the Sky News Tech Blog here

Social Media in Asia: On Digital Dragons, Elephants and Tigers

Zaheer Nooruddin is one of the co-authors behind the new book ‘The Social Media MBA’ published by Wiley (click here for more information) and his chapter is called ‘Digital Dragons, Elephants and Tigers’ explaining social media trends in Asia. It’s a fact that companies so far have only scratched the surface of what can be achieved with social media and this is first book for the experienced social media professional that want to take their activities to the next level. Here at Tech Talk we will give you a mini Social Media MBA that comprise of 15 chapter previews over 15 weeks with the thought leaders featured in the book.
Zaheer is the head of D/BM, global PR firm Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media influencer practice. Zaheer is also the firm’s Digital Chief Marketing Officer for Asia, and their Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China. Based in Hong Kong, Zaheer travels extensively on business and speaking engagements. He was previously the founding head of Edelman Digital in China. He has also held senior roles at international digital marketing agencies, Proxim- ity Worldwide/ BBDO, Ogilvy and Wunderman. A truly global citizen, Zaheer has lived and worked in India, China, the Middle East, Japan and the US. He counsels multinational companies on digital, social web, media and business strategies.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/zooruddin
Blog: http://www.zaheernooruddin.info

In his chapter Zaheer Nooruddin will introduce you to the dynamic and diverse social media landscapes of the Asian continent. He will examine the most compelling reasons for businesses to participate in social media, the opportunities for communications and marketing, while understanding the many challenges they will face in Asia. He will invite you to consider how companies and organizations doing business in Asia should think to incorporate social media and digital storytelling into their integrated communications and marketing strategies in Asian markets. He will answer questions like why microblogging in China is such a unique story, how different Asian markets vary and what is the extent of social media use in Asia?

With regards to social media what should companies plan for in 2012 to take the next step?
Zaheer Nooruddin: “Companies that have spent the last 1-2 years in social media need to look for ways within their strategies to take their commitment, design and community engagement to the next level. Deeper engagement, better design, and a stronger commitment to their social media presences is the next step forward, while constantly persevering to integrated their social programs and content with traditional corporate and brand marketing and communications programming and content, as exploring their options in Social CRM and Open Leadership and Social Business models.

In Asia, the big theme in 2012 is Commitment. Companies operating social media programs in Asia have essentially only been dipping their toes into the possibilities and opportunities to extend their marketing, communications, loyalty and direct sales programs with social media. 2012 will see companies staking a stronger commitment in social media, setting up presences and designing the content that will lead to long-term relationships with key online stakeholders and consumer audiences.”

What company is the best at this today?
Zaheer Nooruddin: “The last time I checked, no company was doing a perfect job at social media in Asia, but a lot of companies are trying and doing very well at trialing programs, some successful and some not so successful. I do think B2B companies can shine a light on how to use social media for business with a focus on ROI to B2C companies, who are traditionally more ‘active’ in the social media space. Hyper-targeting and focusing on developing programs and content for niche digital audiences and influencers is critical for social media success in Asia, and the organisations that have mastered this concept will continue to make great strides and succeed.”

Why should we read your chapter?
Zaheer Nooruddin: “Asia is an endlessly diverse and fascinating region, with half the world’s internet users and some of the most dynamic and active social media markets. Asian technology companies are increasingly leading innovation in the social media space, and to ignore how social media is developing in Asia as a region, and in giant online markets such as China, India, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and others, is to miss a huge part of the story of social media and its impact on brands and consumers around the world.”

For more information visit: http://www.socialmedia-mba.com
To order a book copy: http://www.amazon.co.uk

B-M Asia-Pacific President & CEO Bob Pickard on how to optimize social media for PR

Here’s a great introductory video posted to YouTube by adoboLIVE! of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific’s President & CEO, Bob Pickard, about how to optimize social media for PR. There are some insightful words from Bob Pickard about the transformation of the meaning of “PR” today and for the future – in the post-digital age. We hope you enjoy it!

D/BM China Digital Social Media Landscape 2011

Compliments of the Season!

As we wind down 2011, a great year for us, at Digital Burson-Marsteller China we recently compiled a bunch of our digital and social media insights in 2011 into a single report.

We thought it’d be good to share this with you since China is so dynamic, and so filled with digital and social media marketing and communications for reputation and crisis management opportunities, that it might be useful to consider. We hope you enjoy reviewing it as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Click here for the complete D/BM China Digital & Social Media Landscape 2011 Report in PDF.

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media offering for China. D/BM supports by analysing online reputation and marketing effectiveness, identifying and managing influencers, and by creating online communities that enable digital communications programming.

Contact Zaheer Nooruddin, D/BM head, or Leon Zhang, D/BM Digital Strategy & Insights Lead, for more information.

[ZDNet article] Brand pages stalemate for Google+ and Facebook

This article was originally developed and posted at http://goo.gl/wkFYh by Ellyne Phneah , at ZDNet Asia on December 19, 2011. It has been re-posted here.

GOOGLE+ vs. FACEBOOK? WINNING THE WAR FOR BRANDS

It is still too early to crown either Google+ or Facebook as the social platform of choice for advertisers and corporations even as the market continues to mature and they both unveil new initiatives to win over the enterprise crowd, market watchers stated.

Google had in November released its Google+ Pages to allow organization to create enterprise, rather than individual personal, accounts to connect with users in the same way as Facebook did with its own Pages initiative three years ago.

Commenting on this development, Zaheer Nooruddin, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, said there has been a healthy uptake of Google+ Pages in “just a few days” with some of the world’s leading brands and companies being quick to establish their presence on the social-networking platform.

However, he believed that at this point in time, there is no clear winner and both Google and Facebook will have enough room to play in the same space and still be relevant to brands and users worldwide.

This is especially so if both keep innovating, the CMO stated. Facebook, for one had done well by taking advantage of its “unprecedented rise and hype” in recent times and has kept innovating with new features and usability options. On the other hand, Google had already added more than 100 new features to its social platform and is “superior” in that Google+ is integrated into every other Google service in the long run, he added.

For instance, Google quickly indexes all content posted on a brand’s Google+ Page into its search engine, so this is good news for companies looking to get better search results for their content, Nooruddin said.

“Thanks to Google+, the digital experience for brands just got more intuitive and smarter,” he said.

Facebook’s appealing maturity
That said, the CMO pointed out that Facebook is a mature, established social networking site and, though its subscriber growth has tapered off, it is still growing organically as Internet penetration grows globally.

Brands have already learnt how to best utilize Facebook Pages to target the over 800 million subscribers, and its audience base is bigger than Google+’s 40 million, he added.

Google+, however, is still a “nascent” social network and companies looking for “action” might be disappointed as they need to make sense of how to use the platform, what the opportunities are and what audiences they can target, the executive stated.

Calvin Siew, co-director at Omnifluence, a Singapore-based social media consultancy firm, agreed that it is difficult to tell which service provider will triumph ultimately.

That said, he reckoned that it will take a lot for Google to get companies that have invested a lot of money in Facebook to switch over to its service.

Scott Monty, social media head of Ford Motor, which has a presence on both platforms, noted thatFacebook Pages has been in existence for three years and had the chance to evolve and develop new and different ways for brands to reach a wider audience, especially through ads and sponsored stories.

He added that development of its Google+ Page is still in its early stages. “The service just went live and is still devoid of many features that brands hope are possible to fully differentiate business pages from personal profiles,” he noted in his e-mail.

Monty also pointed out that Google+’s Circles function, which allows users to place different friends in various social groups, has to be done manually and this will be unsustainable should a brand have “tens or hundreds or thousands of followers”.

This is why Siew advised brands in Asia to hold off on getting onto Google+. They should wait until they have enough resources internally, or for Google to introduce a better application programming interface, before investing in the platform, he suggested.

One Google employee had earlier criticized the company’s efforts in developing Google+, calling it a “knee-jerk reaction” and “a study in short-term thinking”, according to a ZDNet Asia report. Engineer Steve Yegge stated in his blog post in October that the Web giant does not understand how to build on the success of its product–the search engine–and develop a platform for developers to come onboard and create third-party apps.

This article has been re-posted here courtesy of

The Future of the Social Web: Google Plus or Facebook? Zaheer Nooruddin answers

In recent weeks, the global blogosphere and social web has been rife with rampant speculation about the recent launch of the Google+ platform from Google. What does it mean – broadly speaking – for the international social media landscape? More specifically, what does it mean to Facebook, the world’s largest and most popular social network? Who will prevail the battle of social networks? Will Google+ tank like so many other Google social innovations before it (remember Google Wave and Google Buzz??!) or will it survive to rule our social graphs in 2012?

Zaheer Nooruddin, Lead Digital Strategist and Digital CMO at Burson-Marsteller, takes a shot at answering some interesting questions about whether the Google+ platform will be more successful than Facebook in the long-term, or whether in fact Facebook will prevail in 2012 and beyond… read on!

Question #1)      What is the uptake of Google+ brand pages so far?

Zaheer Nooruddin: The recent launch of brand pages at Google+ was a success. Not only was there plenty of hype and curiosity (not to mention missteps by the Google+ team) leading up to the launch of brand pages on Google+, but there has been a healthy uptake of pages in just a few days. Some of the world’s leading brands and companies have been quick to establish their presences on Google+. Those that haven’t as yet, will surely likely follow suit in due course, I think.

Question #2)      What are some advantages and disadvantages of Google+ Pages?

Zaheer Nooruddin: As these are relatively early days, and not just for its brand pages, but for Google+ as a social platform, there might be a few ‘pain points’ for brands to navigate through before understanding how to make the most of their own brand pages. Brands still need to make sense of how to use Google+ as a platform, what the opportunities are, who they might be able to target, etc, since Google+ is still so new. Google+ is as yet a “nascent social network” – for brands looking for “action”, this might prove disconcerting at first. This can be viewed as a disadvantage for Google+ brand pages.

An advantage of Google+ pages for brands is that Google quickly indexes all content posted on these pages into its search engine – which is brilliant for brands who are looking for better search results for their content. Google+ is also a truly integrated offering, so brands can take advantage of other Google services in a seamless manner. This will include Mobile, thanks for Google’s Android OS. Thanks to Google+, the digital experience for brands just got more intuitive and smarter.

Question #3) Similarly, what are some advantages and disadvantages of Facebook fan pages?

Zaheer Nooruddin: Facebook is a mature social networking platform. Its user base, although still growing organically as internet penetration grows, has largely been established. Brands have already had the time to learn how to best utilize Facebook fan pages, through experimentation and learning. Going into 2012, this is an obvious advantage of Facebook fan pages for brands, not to mention the ‘potential’ to target 600-odd million people around the world (as opposed to Google+’s 40-odd million.)

On the flipside, Facebook has been around for a while now, and there is always the risk that users might get bored and seek out new experiences within social networking. Facebook’s infamous privacy issues have also marred user perceptions of the network, and there has been talk about the very low user CTR (“Click Thru Rates”) that Facebook fan pages offer for brands.

Question #4) Ultimately, which one do you think trumps as a platform and why?

Zaheer Nooruddin: Ultimately, I think there will be space for both these giant platforms to play and be relevant to brands and users around the world. Facebook has done well to take advantage of its unprecedented rise and hype in recent times, and it has kept innovating with new features and usability options. Constant innovation is key. In a very short time, Google+ has already added over 100 new features to its platform. Google+ also holds a trump card of being integrated into every other Google service in the long-run, including into the Android mobile experience. In my view, the possibilities are limitless for both platforms so long as they both keep innovating.

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D/BM is Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media influencer practice for China. D/BM supports by monitoring online reputation and marketing, identifying and fostering influencers in real-time, and by developing communities that enable targeted communications and marketing in the digital age.

Photos credits: Images used here are reproduced under the Creative Commons usage, from Google. No infringement on copyright is intended.

7 Deadly Digital Marketing Tips for 2012

Our colleague in India, Albert Pereira, President of Digital at Genesis Burson-Marsteller (GBM), wrote an excellent blog post about what digital marketing clients can do to guide their digital marketing strategies and programs to a better place in 2012. We have re-posted Al’s post here with his kind permission.

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By Albert Pereira

 It’s crazy but some have not yet realized that we are living in an era which will see arguably the most dramatic of all revolutions ‘The Communication Revolution’.

The select few in marketing communications are far more fortunate than we think. The opportunities that will present themselves to truly impact and shape our sphere of influence will be multiple fold.

In an attempt to be prescriptive in self-help style about an unfathomable communications future, lets start with the Digital Marketing’s 7 Deadly Tips.

1. Embrace The Past (Theory): Ironically, we are in a period of transition and past theories though evolving rapidly will hold us in good stead as most of the ‘traditional communications managers’ will be in office (read power) for a decade at the very least. This familiarity of a formatted past will help sell in the new and make you a very effective evangelist.

2. Digital Native (Watch and learn!): If you are a twenty-something reading this and have a smirk on your face please wipe it off. You are reaping the benefit of an earlier generations’ imagination. A man in his 50s created the iPhone and gave us the touch interface; bless his soul. The real adoption and cues for the future will come from eight year olds growing up with access to the latest technology. Those eight year olds will be in the workforce in little over a decade. I don’t think we would be asking the digital inclusion question at that time. The ‘in the boardroom’ manager still has a point when he refers to his kid as an example.

Image source: Incredible India campaign

3. Visit India: Adoption of new technology does not have the barriers of old archaic software and devices that have set the system and defined the rules in the last decade. The West has clearly had a huge head start but the future will be in places that have the skills but not the infrastructure. It will be there that innovation is needed and the latest technology will be used to bridge the gap.

4. Daily Online Dose: Get digitally plugged. Digital marketeers are always happy to share their wares and pearls online. Make it routine just like taking your vitamins or exercising in the gym. If you have to interpret the present and predict the future for a living, get where it’s at. If you like the outdoor my friend, stream a few YouTube wildlife clips for a bit.

5. Contribute, Don’t Preach: There is a huge temptation and incentive to assume the role of Digital Marketing Grandmaster. The space is new and the black belts are still under production. The battleground is evolving so fast and so rapidly that a self-proclaimed master is dangerous as ‘finality’ to anything digital and should be considered as unreal. ‘Should not’ and ‘cannot’ are treated with the utmost caution or not used at all… if I had my way.

6. Create: The most abused word of the last decade in communications… in my humble opinion that is. Our time is now and we will do things never been done before. Creative is no longer a title given to a department to justify premiums. It belongs to us all. We all must believe we are creative and strive to push the envelope on creative digital marketing communications and content. It’s a white canvas at the moment.

7. Report: One of the most important digital tips is ‘report’. Spend a disproportionate time on getting your digital marketing campaign facts documented. We are learning and optimizing on the fly. Cases will only speed up adoption. A blessing for us all! Amen!

Any thoughts are welcome. Please share them with me.

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Find Albert Pereira’s original post at http://blog.genesisbm.in/communications/digital-marketings-7-deadly-tips/ and get in touch with Al at albert dot pereira at bm dot com

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D/BM is integrated digital and social media planning and management at Burson-Marsteller China. D/BM supports by tracking online reputation and WOM marketing, by identifying and fostering influencers in real-time, and by developing communities that enable targeted communications and marketing in the digital age.

Marketing the Weibo Way: A Burson-Marsteller China Digital Perspective

Recently Leon Zhang, Digital Strategy and Insights Lead at Burson-Marsteller China, was invited by AmCham (The American Chamber of Commerce) as a panelist of roundtable “Marketing the Weibo Way”. Leon shared experience, best practices and a case study of Corporate Weibo (China microblogging) marketing at the roundtable. Here is Leon’s keynote address:

“Good afternoon everyone. I’d like to introduce a real-world case study of how a brand used weibo to achieve its marketing and communication objectives.

This B2B China Social Media case is interesting because:

First, this case has just won a PR award in Asia Pacific, SABRE award for best B2B marketing in 2011.

Second, the brand is a B2B company. As we know, a common view to weibo is that it’s a platform full of consumers, so it’s good for B2C companies. But the fact is, weibo can be also very helpful for B2B companies.

The overall goal was to extend client’s thought leadership and brand awareness in China’s social media space, and the target audience was its key stakeholders, including: media, opinion leaders, operators, manufacturers and developers.

So what did the team do? 3 keywords: research, content, and engagement.

The first step was an extensive research and analysis to better understand the situation, this included 3 parts: influencers, audiences, peers.

1) Influencers analysis. There’re mainly 3 sources to identify this:

- First, as a PR firm, we have a well established media database, so media influencers were mapped out;

- Second, client knowledge and experience;

- Third, ongoing interaction with users when maintaining the weibo account.

2) Audience analysis. This includes,

- Audience segmentation, divide audiences into different interest groups;

- Behavior analysis. Understand what each interest group is most debating and interested online.

3) Peers or competitors analysis. Constant research on how the industry peers were using weibo to reach their audiences and establish point of view in the market.

After the research and better understanding of audiences, it’s time to create good content.

Good content needs good differentiation and positioning. This weibo was positioned as:

1) A source of valuable, reliable and up-to-date information about wireless technology, products and trends;

2) A professional forum for industry leadership and followers to discuss hot issues and latest developments in wireless communications;

3) A place for influencers to directly interact with the brand, learn about the company.

Then develop content strategy, content approval process, editorial calendar and guidelines, according to both the positioning and research results.

Going into the ongoing maintenance, engagement with users is also very critical. Engagement has 2 meanings here: 1 is daily interaction with users to strengthen the relationship, like replying to the comments, @ or retweeting, etc; 1 is ad-hoc or regular special events or programs.

The results were good both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Quantitatively, the weibo followers were increased from 4,000 to 30,000 in about 1 year;

Qualitatively, the weibo has got a lot of very high-quality followers, for example, some of the most significant corporate followers are: China’s 3 operators, partners, analyst institutions, and media. And some significant individual industry followers are: CEOs and senior management in the industry.

In summary, the 3 key takeaways from this case are:

1) Always start with listening, research and analysis, before deep diving into execution;

2) Content is king. Have a good positioning and differentiation first, and then create content that your audiences like;

3) Ongoing engagement and commitment. Weibo is a long-term business, you need to engage with users constantly, and this needs long-term commitment to weibo platform.

Thank you very much.”

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About the American Chamber of Commerce Beijing event:

Topic: Marketing the Weibo Way

Date: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Venue: AmCham-China Conference Center

Speakers:

Leon Zhang, digital strategy and insights lead, Burson Marsteller China

Will Tao, consulting director, iResearch Consulting Group

Bill Bishop, founder of DigiCha, a blog about the Internet and media in China

Jingyang Xu, Sina Weibo deputy general manager, Weibo Business Products Division

Moderator: Jeremy Goldkorn, CEO of Danwei

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About D/BM:

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media practice for China. D/BM supports by monitoring online reputation and marketing, identifying and fostering influencers in real-time, and by developing communities that enable targeted communications and marketing in the digital age.

China Corporate Social Media Marketing – A look at opportunities by Burson-Marsteller [Adquan interview].

Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific recently published the  “Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011″ analyzing the state and trends of corporate social media marketing in countries across the region.

To dig deeper into the report and hear Burson-Marsteller China’s insights into social media marketing, Adquan recently interviewed Leon Zhang, Digital Strategy and Insights Lead for Burson-Marsteller China. 

Here is the interview in English (the original interview was in Chinese). Enjoy!

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Adquan: What were the considerations behind Burson-Marsteller’s decision to publish the report?

LZ: Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific first published the “Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study” last year in 2010, and it was very successful. There are not many reports available about this topic, at least within Asia-Pacific.

We decided to issue the report for the following reasons: First – social media is definitely in the spotlight these days. Both the market size and user base are huge and growing rapidly.

Secondly, the development of these social media platforms is remarkable. For instance, Sina weibo (a microblog) in China has been growing very fast since 2009 and has already reached 250 million users. At the beginning, Sina Weibo had limited features, and many of them were similar to Twitter. However, quite amazingly, tons of new and unique features have emerged on Sina weibo, such as microblog interviewing, microblog polling.

Thirdly, while companies grow more interested in social media marketing, these platforms have grown more suitable for corporate use. Additionally, weibo platforms like Sina and Tencent are working to help companies achieve their marketing and communication goals. In consideration of all of these points above, we released the report to provide useful references for the industry.

Adquan: Could you outline the main ideas and content in the report?

LZ: We first analyzed the overall trends in the market. Last year, we published a report on the same subject using the same methodology, so we’re able to make an apples-to-apples comparison, from which you can see how corporate social media marketing in Asia-Pacific has changed.

Next, particular chapters were assigned for different countries, and the top companies in each country were chosen, and we made analyzed these companies by looking at different social media channels, including microblogs, social networks, video sharing sites, corporate blogs and official websites.

Our conclusions were based on a multi-faceted analysis, so the results could be grouped in a number of ways, such as by geography, representing the overall social media situation in one country, or by channel, with countries compared.

Lastly, with Burson-Marsteller’s years of social media marketing experience, we came up with practical approaches and suggestions for companies to apply in their social media activities.

Adquan: Any particular data or results that we should pay attention to?

LZ: Yes. Look at the comparison this year’s study and last year’s study, which I mentioned earlier. Interestingly, many of the corporations that were cautious regarding social media marketing last year made significant progress. Take China as an example. Every selected company has at least one social media presence. Considering the unique context and environment in China, the unique social media platforms different from other countries in the world, some related insights and analysis in the report may worth reading.

Adquan: Speaking of China, what do you think the differences are between domestic [Chinese] companies and foreign ones?

LZ: Differences can be seen in the following areas: First is the user base. Sina Weibo has 250 million users – a number unreachable for most of other countries. The other is the uniqueness of platforms. In China, each type of social media is unique compared to its international peers.

Let’s take the microblog as an example, Twitter is popular internationally, but in China it’s blocked and we have many weibo platforms instead. Sina, Tencent, Netease and Sohu have the four most popular microblog channels.

Same thing for Facebook, which is also blocked in China. China has Renren.com, Kaixin001.com and some other SNS as alternatives.

Third, there are some differences in terms of integration. While we were doing the report, we found that Chinese enterprises seems tend to be relatively conservative when integrating social media. Although Chinese companies have opened accounts in different social media channels like Weibo and renren.com, each of the accounts is isolated from others and the content is not cohesive.

Adquan: So do you think foreign companies are actually doing a better job?

Leon: Generally speaking, Western countries are doing better at this, especially those countries where social media as a marketing platform developed earlier. But in terms of the entire Asia-Pacific region we covered in the report, it’s more complicated; some countries are not doing as well as China.

Adquan: In terms of corporate social media marketing, what are the features or advantage of China?

LZ: To start with, our development speed is remarkable. Apparently through our report, there are much more companies using social media channels this year compared to the last, which shows more and more corporate become aware of the importance of social media, by contrast, some other countries may not be developing so fast.

The reasons are various, for example, maybe the local market needs for social media are still not strong enough, or maybe companies are still not aware of its importance. Luckily, most of Chinese firms are already aware of this. This is the first step.

Adquan: You mentioned names of different social media channels like micro-blog, SNS, video sharing and corporate blog (website), which of the them do you think is the best option for corporate social media marketing?

LZ: There is no fixed answer for this question. Each corporation should do social media marketing based on its own specific situation with consideration of the followings:

1 — OBJECTIVES - what they want to achieve using the platform;

2 — AUDIENCES - whom they are talking to, what the user behaviors are, which platform users prefer to use, etc.;

3 — COMPETITORS - what they are doing, what platforms they’re setting up accounts on; No.4 — other related information, like which platform suits its communication contents, the features and advantages of the platform itself, etc. Then consider all of these to make the final decision.

Adquan: You’ve worked for several advertising agencies like the McCann Worldgroup. What advantages do PR firms have in terms of social media marketing?

LZ: Traditionally, PR firms are better. Firstly – social media is about content. PR companies are experienced at developing content. Secondly, managing relationships – understanding interpersonal relationships and how people interact online and offline.

These platforms are called social media because they are dominated by content and relationships. These accounts are maintained by real people, they’re just communicating with through different channels and in different ways.

I think public relations firms have advantages and strengths in these two areas.

Adquan: Besides current clients, is there any new client asking Burson-Marsteller to help their social media marketing?

LZ: At Burson-Marsteller China, our digital services are integrated into our other communications services and offerings. Today, the connection between traditional and social media. As we all know, social media is just one of the many communication platforms engaging target audiences, influencers and relevant media. From one perspective, the function of social media amplifies offline marketing. For instance, the influence of even the best offline campaign is limited geographically – to a city or region, or just to the people who attended. If the news is posted online, the impact could spread to the whole country or even the whole world.

Another very interesting and important point is that social media can be regarded as an information source. Messages about a variety of subjects are constantly posted online, many of which are wide-open with no thought to privacy. Companies are able to use these messages as a source of information.

For example, when it comes to the traditional management of customer relationships, what we should manage to do is to understand our audience, their preferences and customer life cycles, so to provide personalized contents, products and services meanwhile managing customer relations.

However, in the land of social media, we have “Social CRM”, that is, doing the CRM by using information gathered from social media. From these three perspectives, social media marketing should be closely integrated with corporate traditional business and marketing efforts.

Adquan: Combining what you’ve learned from the report and Burson-Marsteller’s own customer service experiences, what are your suggestions for companies in social media marketing?

LZ: It is critical to get management buy-in, so that long-term support and resources can be guaranteed. The first step is definitely social media monitoring. When you walked in, you may have seen the screen behind our reception desk. That is one of our social media products – the D/BM Digital Listener.

The D/BM Digital Listener monitors social media content and conversations. To begin with, we define a topic, for example, the brand name. Then the system will help the firm learn about social media conversations regarding their brand – what users are saying, how many speakers there are and whether the sentiment is positive or negative. By tracking the information, valuable data is collected, analyzed and further explored.

As a result, we get direction and insights for the next step. The main approach is to directly participate in social media and communicate with audience; on this point, many domestic companies are doing great. Another thing to do is to implement several programs, such as engaging influencers and delivering key messages through them.

Ongoing monitoring is required for constant measurement—to understand whether the programs are successful – whether customers like the content and the selected social media platform. Monitoring can help optimize programming and create organized and impactful plans.

Social Media Analytics at Burson-Marsteller China

Adquan: Can you please predict the future of social media and corporate social media marketing?

LZ: To some degree, the entire Internet has become one social media. The basic definition of social media includes two key points, two-way communication and real-time messaging.

In the past, whenever news happened, it took us some time to find out about it. However, now through microblog or other online platforms, we get it in real-time. From this point of view, the Internet is gradually becoming social. We used to say that Internet had penetrated into our daily work and life, while today we can say the same thing about social media.

For corporations, social media marketing is maturing. Platforms themselves are maturing and corporations are performing better and better in social media marketing as they gather experience. For many Western countries, things have plateaued because of their early exploration in the field.

The social management of customer relations is a great example. We see it in search engine optimization (SEO), where the idea is to help organizations reach the top in the search engine results by optimizing their website’s technologies, content and links, keywords, etc.

Since the social media platform is becoming more and more popular, there are not only corporate websites in search engine results, but social media platforms like BBS. (Speaking of BBS, though it began much earlier, it is also a social media.) That’s why side content from BBS sometimes shows up together with the company’s official website when we type in a topic or the name of a brand. For example, when an official corporate website ranks first in search engine results, it seems like the job of SEO is done, but it is not.

Because when a BBS conversation, especially a very negative comment, turns out to be listed second, extra work like crisis or issue management may be also required. Hence, we must have a holistic view for SEO, involving social media.

Many traditional aspects of marketing are being integrated with social media – Social CRM and Social SEO. This is a trend. In other word, social media is ultimately one of many media platforms. In the end, it’s just a platform and channel. How to leverage social media depends on the ultimate objectives and approaches of corporate.

Influencing Consumer Decisions in the Social Age: In conversation with Zaheer Nooruddin

The role of Reputational Marketing for Brands in China: Influencing Consumer Decisions

A brand’s reputation can have a major impact on the customer decision-making process, but may not be fully-utilized by marketing teams. Additionally, marketers must work hard to maintain the integrity of the brand. It is easy to lose credibility in the eyes of the consumer. With this in mind, China Entrepreneurs introduces “Reputational Marketing Seminar: Influencing Consumer Decisions” to present marketers with the tools they need to use to build and promote their brands’ reputations.

Building and Maintaining Your Reputation Online

A company’s Marketing and Communications and PR teams work hard to build up the reputation of a particular brand, defining its core components. Yet, consumer opinions can offer a refresher course on the public’s view of a brand. The challenge then becomes aligning consumer opinions with the company’s concept of the brand and altering misconceptions.

How does reputational marketing fit within a comprehensive marketing strategy for a brand. What makes a brand stand out from the competition?

In Beijing, on December 1, 2011 at the Beijing American Club, a distinguished panel of reputation and marketing experts will discuss the merits of reputational marketing and the best practices for marking the most out of this brand-strengthening tool.

Moderator

• Olivia Jingshu Ji, Founder and VP of the CEBEX Group, Founder of China Entrepreneurs (CE)

Zaheer Nooruddin is a digital professional, with over 13 years of integrated 360 digital marketing-communications experience in multiple markets, including India and China, in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East regions.

Zaheer is Burson-Marsteller’s regional Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Zaheer is also the Lead Digital Strategist for the firm in Greater China, and the Digital Practice Leader of “D/BM” – Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media influencer practice in China.

Zaheer was previously the founding head of “Edelman Digital” China, Edelman Public Relations’s digital and social media specialist consultancy. Zaheer has also held senior roles at international digital marketing agencies Proximity/BBDO, OgilvyOne and Wunderman. Zaheer began his career at the TATA Group in India, one of the country’s leading business conglomerates. Born in Bombay, Zaheer studied at St. Xavier’s College, and graduated with a BA in Political Science and History from the College of Wooster in the USA.

Zaheer is a digital thought-leader in Asia, and he is the co-author of an upcoming book called “The Social Media MBA: Your Complete Guide to Social Media Strategy Development and Delivery” from Wiley & Sons in early 2012.

Zaheer Nooruddin

China Digital and Social Media Landscape 2011

Digital and Social Media China Landscape 2011

专访博雅公关张亮：企业与社交媒体营销

Leon Zhang is Burson-Marsteller China’s Digital Strategy & Insights Lead. Based in Beijing, Leon works with Burson-Marsteller’s clients and practices to introduce and manage digital innovation, social media marketing and online reputation management programs for China.

adquan.com November 22, 2011: 博雅公关亚太区近日发布了《2011年亚太区企业社交媒体研究报告》，介绍和研究了亚太区各个国家的企业在社交媒体营销方面的现状与趋势。针对这份报告，以及博雅公关在社交媒体营销方面的理解和洞察，广告门专门采访了博雅公关中国区数字媒体战略顾问张亮（Leon Zhang），请他来为我们做了详细的解答。以下为访谈实录。

广告门：关于《2011年亚太区企业社交媒体研究报告》，博雅公关是基于怎样的考虑发布这样一份报告的？

张亮：从2010年开始，博雅公关亚太区开始发布《亚太区企业社交媒体研究报告》。发布以后在业内还是比较受欢迎的，至少在亚太区来讲，这一块的报告还并不是特别多。之所以发布这个报告，有几个方面的考虑。首先，在很多国家，社交媒体现在都已经非常火爆，市场规模、用户规模非常大，而且现在的发展速度也很快。第二，这些社交媒体平台的发展也很快。比如中国的新浪微博，从09年底到现在发展非常迅速，已经突破2.5亿用户。最开始的时候，新浪微博的功能还并不是很多，有很多功能和Twitter相似，现在我们知道有微访谈、投票等各种各样新的、与Twitter有所不同的功能都已经出现。第三点，企业对社交媒体营销也开始变得非常感兴趣，这些平台变得越来越适合企业做一些事情。同时，像新浪微博、腾讯微博，他们官方也会做一些事情，可以便于企业利用这个平台来实现自己的目标。所以结合这几方面的考虑，一方面是用户比较多、平台逐渐成熟，而且企业也有这方面的需要，我们就考虑发布这样一份报告，给行业提供相关的参考资料。

广告门：这份报告中，都提到了哪些主要内容和观点？

张亮：主要的内容观点是这样：首先是一个大趋势的分析，因为去年我们也发布了同样主题的报告，基于同样的一个分析方面，这两份报告中间就可以进行比较。通过比较可以看出，从去年到现在，亚太区受访企业的变化情况，这个变化趋势从一定程度上能够反映企业运营社交媒体的整体趋势。第二，报告中会有不同国家的章节，我们选择这些国家综合排名比较靠前的企业进行研究。根据这些企业受访的情况，我们会有一个非常详细的分析，包括几个平台——微博平台，SNS平台，企业视频平台，企业博客、网站等角度，每个维度若干细项分析得出结论。这样对每个国家的分析，一方面能代表一个国家的状况，另一方面也能在国家和国家之间进行横向比较。最后，我们根据博雅公关在企业社交媒体营销中的实战经验，总结出一些提示和技巧，放在最后的章节里，企业看了以后可以直接拿出来马上应用，非常实用。

广告门：这份报告中有哪些值得我们关注的数据和研究结果？

张亮：比较值得关注的有几方面：一方面就是刚才提到的趋势的比较——将2010年的报告数据和今年进行比较后，我们可以发现很多有趣的东西。比如说去年大部分企业，对社交媒体营销还相对比较谨慎，但今年的发展却非常快。比如在中国的受访企业中，每家企业都至少拥有一个社交媒体平台的账户。另外比较有意思的是中国区的一些案例，我们都知道中国的国情比较特殊，包括社交媒体平台和国际上的平台不太一样，所以里面的分析数据和结果会有一些参考价值。

广告门：谈到中国区，你觉得国内企业的社交媒体营销和国外企业相比有哪些方面的差异？

张亮：差异体现在这几个方面：首先是用户规模上，比如仅新浪微博一个平台就已经有2.5亿人的规模，这对其它国家来讲是很难达到的。另一点是平台的差异，这个平台差异是指我们国内基本上每一个社交媒体种类都会有自己特殊的一些平台，比如说国外是Twitter，我们国内就是微博，比如新浪、腾讯、网易、搜狐四大微博；国外是Facebook，国内是人人网、开心网等。第三，可能会有一些整合方面的差异，我们在做报告的时候，发现中国区企业在进行社交媒体平台整合时，相对来说比较保守一些。比如有些企业同时开通了微博、人人公共主页等账号，有自己的官方网站，但其相互之间的信息、内容却并没有紧密的结合在一起。

广告门：你觉得国外在这方面做的更好一些？

张亮：西方会做的更好一些，尤其是社交媒体发展比较早的一些国家。但是在亚太区不同的国家情况有所不同，有的可能做的还不如我们。

广告门：那么在企业社交媒体营销方面，中国有哪些比较具有特色或者优势的地方？

张亮：一个是发展速度。很明显，通过我们报告的趋势比较，去年使用某些社交媒体渠道的企业还比较少，今年则增加了很多，说明大家都已经意识到了这个的重要性。相比之下，其它一些的国家发展则没有这么快。这其中有多方面的原因，一方面可能是当地的市场情况，另一方面是当地的一些企业也许还没有意识到社交媒体营销重要性。幸运的是中国的很多企业都已经意识到了。但这只是第一步。

广告门：刚才你提到了主要的社交媒体平台包括了微博、SNS、视频网站、企业博客（官网），你觉得哪些平台更适合企业来做社交营销？

张亮：这个问题很难有一个固定的答案，但如果要做的话，不同企业要根据自己不同的情况来进行分析。至少有几方面因素要考虑：一方面是自己的目标，自己所使用的这个平台，到底想要达到一个什么样的营销效果；另一方面是自己的目标受众，自己想要去传播的目标的人群，他们的行为特点，他们是谁，他们喜欢在哪个平台上出现等；第三点是竞争对手的情况，比如说竞争对手现在做什么，他们的账号在哪个平台上；另外还有一些其它的信息，比如自己要传播的内容适合哪个平台，然后再根据不同平台的特点和优势综合考虑。

广告门：你之前在麦肯等很多家广告公司工作过，那么你觉得，在社交媒体营销领域，公关公司相比于广告公司的优势有哪些？

张亮：从传统角度来讲，公关公司的优势至少有几个方面：第一是内容方面，公关公司善于撰写内容，特别在内容的把握方面；另外一个是“关系”的把握，如何去处理人与人之间、尤其是在社交媒体中人与人之间的关系。而对于社交媒体来说，它正是一个内容和关系为王的平台。因为在这些社交媒体里，每个帐号背后都坐着真正的人，只是大家通过不同的渠道和形式来进行互动和沟通。在内容与关系这两方面，公关公司还是有一定的优势的。

广告门：除了原有的客户，现在有没有一些客户专门找博雅来做社交媒体营销？

张亮：有的，而且我们的服务大部分都是通过整合的方式来提供给客户的。现在，传统媒体与社交媒体的联系开始变得更加紧密。首先，社交媒体同样是一个沟通的平台，是和自己的受众、意见领袖或者说和相关的媒体去互动的一个平台，这只是众多平台其中的一个；第二，从某些方面来讲，社交媒体的作用相当于一个放大器，他会把线下的营销效果放大。比如做一场线下活动，可能影响力只能覆盖到某一个地域范围内，甚至某一个城市、某一个区域内的人，或者参加这些活动的人。但如果把这个事情搬到网上，进行放大的话，可能就会覆盖到全国乃至全世界；第三，也是一个比较有意思的地方，社交媒体也可以被认为是一个信息的来源，或者叫情报的来源。因为在社交媒体中，每个人都在不停的发布各种内容信息，其中有很多是公开的，不存在隐私问题的，而企业则可以合理地运用这些信息。如果这些信息善加利用，并且通过正当的方式，其实可以起到很多的作用。比如说传统的CRM（客户关系管理），我们要去了解自己的客户，知道自己客户的喜好和客户生命周期等，这样能够针对性的提供一些内容、产品和服务，管理客户关系。而在社交媒体中，有一个叫Social CRM的概念，它其实就是应用在社交媒体里边的信息来做CRM。所以，从这三个方面来讲，它们都是和企业传统的业务紧密联系在一起的。

广告门：结合博雅发布的研究报告以及对客户的服务经验，您觉得在社交媒体营销方面，有哪些具体的建议可以提给企业？

张亮：前提是一定要引起企业管理层的重视和承诺，这样才能保证长期的资源和相关方面的支持，如果没有这个前提的话，很多东西都很难往下进行。有了这个前提，下一步要开始做监测，你们进门的时候看到前台背后有一个电视屏，这上面演示的就是我们的一个为企业社交媒体营销提供帮助的产品——D/BM Digital Listener。它是基于话题进行监测的工具，我们可以自己定义若干话题，比如企业的品牌名字，它就可以帮助企业了解社交媒体上的人在谈论自己的品牌的时候，说什么事情，有多少人在说，信息是正面还是负面的，等等。这样通过倾听整个社交媒体中的信息，就可以得到一些有价值的数据，对这些数据和信息进行分析和挖掘。通过这些分析，我们就可以得到一些观点与结论可以指导下一步的行动。下一步行动可以包括很多方面，一方面企业可以主动直接参与到社交媒体中，和用户进行互动，在这一点上，其实现在国内很多企业已经做的比较好；另一方面可以从企业角度去做一些项目，比如和一些意见领袖合作，然后去推一些信息，或者做一些事情。而在行动过后，我们还需要通过数据监测来看看它的效果——用户到底喜不喜欢，是否接受，以及选择这个社交媒体平台适不适合等等。通过对这些指标的不断监测，不断进行优化调整，实现一个良性循环。

博雅公关前台放置的社交媒体监测屏

广告门：请您展望一下未来社交媒体的发展趋势，以及企业的社交媒体营销趋势。

张亮：从某种意义上讲，整个互联网现在已经变成了一个社交媒体。社交媒体比较直接的一个定义，一个是信息的双向互动交流，另外一个是实时的信息。以前的一个信息，或者一个新闻出现以后，要过一段时间我们才能知道，而现在通过微博或者互联网上的某一个平台，我们马上就可以知道。从这个角度来讲，整个互联网已经逐渐向社交媒体的方向在演变。以前我们常听到的一个说法是，互联网已经渗透到我们生活、工作中的方方面面，现在也可以说社交媒体也在渗透到我们生活、工作中的方方面面。

对于企业来说，随着社交媒体营销的逐渐成熟——一方面是社交媒体平台的发展与成熟，另一方面是企业在研究的过程中，也会总结出一些心得、经验，企业在社交媒体营销上也会做的越来越好。比如很多西方国家，由于他们这方面起步比国内稍微早一些，已经出现了很多有趣的东西。比如像刚才提到的Social CRM，运用社交媒体里边的用户信息来进行客户关系管理。还有Social SEO——SEO大家都比较熟悉，就是搜索引擎优化。从传统角度来讲，SEO是通过对自己的网站进行技术、内容和链接等方面的优化、关键词策略等等多方面考虑，让自己的网站在搜索结果的排名中比较靠前。而Social SEO的概念指的是，既然社交媒体平台越来越火爆，其实在搜索引擎结果中，我们看到的不光是企业自己网站的信息，它也会包含一些社交媒体的信息。比如BBS，虽然BBS出现的比较早，但从本质上来讲也是一种社交媒体。所以我们现在搜很多话题，或者搜很多企业品牌名字的时候，看到的不光是企业的网站，一些其它信息，比如像BBS中的一些贴子也会出现。如果SEO做的比较好，可能企业的网站排名在第一名，看起来好像工作结束了，但其实不是这样。假如第二条是一个BBS的内容，而其中是一个负面的信息，这就需要去做一些诸如危机公关一类的更多的工作。因此对于整个搜索引擎结果来说，我们现在必须要做一个通盘的考虑，包括把社交媒体的内容也考虑在内，这就是一个Social SEO的概念。

可以说，以前很多在营销领域的应用，和社交媒体一结合，就会形成一个新的领域——和CRM结合就是Social CRM，和SEO结合就是Social SEO，这是一个发展方向。换句话说，归根结底社交媒体只是众多媒体的其中一个，它本身只是一个平台，或者说一个渠道。至于怎样去应用这个平台或者渠道，取决于企业的目标和应用的方式。

《2011年亚太区企业社交媒体研究报告》微盘下载，请点击此处。

编辑：AndyTsai
Reproduced here, this interview conducted by Andy Tsai at adquan.com first appeared here on November 22, 2011 at adquan.com, one of China’s leading digital thought-leadership verticals.

The Future IS Mobile in China & Asia [Video]

Click here to watch the VIDEO Apps on the Move – Ericsson

With Ericsson predicting 800 million smartphone users in China by 2015, the country is set for an applications revolution on an unparalleled scale. In the first of a two-part video series, we look at what the future applications market could hold for China and around the world.

The future scale of mobile applications is put into perspective by Zaheer Nooruddin, Digital CMO and Lead Digital Strategist for communications company Burson- Marsteller Asia Pacific.

Technology and media author and consultant Tomi T Ahonen says the falling price of smartphones — which he predicts could be as little as USD 10 by 2020 — and faster mobile networks will make applications truly globally available and accessible. He says this will be boosted by all major internet, computing and media companies planning for a “mobile” future.

Despite predictions by Chetan Sharma Consulting that there will be 50 billion applications by 2012, Nooruddin says the global apps market is still in its infancy.

With mobile gaming and entertainment applications already the most popular apps in China, Nooruddin sees a lot of scope for the development of mobile social gaming.

Industry analysts at Juniper Research predict the applications market will be worth USD 25 billion by 2014.

Operators are also working towards an applications future. Christopher Lau, Director of Future Services at Hong Kong operator SmarTone-Vodafone, says applications are about much more than just having an app store.

- Courtesy of Ericcson

Social Media Rule #1: Don’t Delete Negative Comments

RULE #1: DON’T DELETE NEGATIVE POSTS
By Emily Tan on Nov 17, 2011
Original article found at Campaign Asia http://goo.gl/VzA1m
filed under Digital, Asia-Pacific

With social media the buzz word of marketing for the past few years, you’d think brands and agencies would have strategies in place for dealing with both the positive and the negative side of consumer interaction. But recent events suggest some social media marketers may need a refresher in the basics.

Take Chapstick for example. By all accounts it’s a social media savvy brand. The ad (pictured) that started all of that brand’s trouble even urges consumers to “be heard at facebook.com/chapstick”. When one consumer, who found the ad offensive, wrote a blogpost in October and then took them up on their offer, her comments were deleted. She wrote a blogpost about that too, as did a mother who said she and her family would no longer be using Chapstick and had her comments deleted as well.

Pretty soon there was an online petition to get the Chapstick ad pulled and the incident was covered by articles in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Chapstick did pull the ad in the end and issued an apology to consumers who “felt their posts were being deleted.”

Even more recently, Sapient Nitro’s Gurgaon office decided to make a self-promoting music video and post it to their Facebook page. When bombarded with negative comments like “does this make Rebecca Black an idea engineer?” the comments were deleted, users reportedly banned, and the video taken down.

watch?v=jozWAskPoYg&feature=player_embedded

Too late though. The video had been copied and was reuploaded on YouTube where SapientNitro had no control over user comments – quite a few deriding its social media abilities. An explanation that the video wasn’t meant for global audiences was posted on SapientNitro’s blog which, taking local cultures into account, puts a new spin on the video.

But the video’s ill-reception isn’t the real problem. While SapientNitro isn’t a consumer-facing brand, the real damage to its reputation, points out Fleishman-Hillard’s senior vice-president and head of digital integration for Asia Napoleon Biggs, is the perpetuity of the web. “Now everytime someone does a search for SapientNitro and social media, chances are this incident will pop up.”

One factor tying these two incidents together is that the original problem may have gone largely unnoticed if Chapstick and SapientNitro hadn’t started enraging their fanbase by deleting comments.

“The message they’re sending out is that they don’t value their customers and their feedback; that they’re only interested in broadcasting their mantra and not truly listening and responding to consumer feedback,” observed Scott Pettet, Asia-Pacific vice president for Lewis PR. The outraged reponse, he continued, is because “heavy-handed moderation in social media suggests that a brand is trying to control consumers and this runs totally against the grain in the context of social media”.

That brands still make this mistake is a result of poor planning, agree experts. “Brands and agencies tend to skip developing a robust set of social media policies and processes. They also tend to delegate social media management to junior and inexperienced staff,” observed Burson-Marstellar’s director and lead digital strategist for Greater China, Zaheer Nooruddin.

Biggs acknowledged that negative online comments can be quite hurtful. This, combined with a lack of social policy, guidance and perhaps, a junior employee, can result in panic and the deletion of all negative feedback.

So how should negative comments be handled? “Brands have to take it on the chin when they make a mistake. If you’re not prepared to do that, social media is not the place for your brand,” said Pettet. Brands shouldn’t take too long about it either, he added. “Chapstick could have demonstrated that it really was listening to the voice of its consumers, and even though they got the ad wrong, the correct response could have won them even more fans.”

“Even if the comment is somewhat unreasonable, brands should at least acknowledge that they’ve seen it and they’re working on it,” Biggs said. “Human nature craves attention, they just want to be heard, give it to them and you may earn a fan.”

Brands have every right to delete abusive or threatening comments but they should take a screen shot, acknowledge the comment was deleted with an explanation and invite the user to continue the discussion privately, added Biggs.

“Negative comments should be dealt with transparently,” commented Nooruddin.

Of course, avoiding a situation where you receive negative comments altogether is ideal, but quite often impossible. “Marketers will get these things wrong from time to time. It’s about how you respond. Be sure you have a policy for it.” said Pettet.

“Someone, somewhere will not like what you’re doing and will say so. It’s a shark pit, if you’re going to jump in, be prepared and wear chainmail,” said Biggs.

[Reuters] Chatter in China: Multinationals turn to Weibo

The logo of Sina Corp’s Chinese microblog website ”Weibo” is seen on a screen in this photo illustration taken in Beijing

September 13, 2011.
Credit: Reuters – reproduced here from the original post at Reuters.com http://goo.gl/08Fzl
By Melanie Lee
(Editing by Kazunori Takada and Alex Richardson)
SHANGHAI | Wed Nov 16, 2011

(Reuters) – What do the International Monetary Fund, Louis Vuitton and Unilever have in common? They are the among a clutch of Westerns institutions to join Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging platform operated by Sina Corp, which has quickly become the place to be to promote, lobby and win over a large, important audience.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms popular abroad are blocked in China by a government worried that unfettered Internet access could undermine Communist Party rule.

But with more than 250 million mostly educated and white collar users, Sina’s homegrown Weibo is similar to Twitter in that it allows users to post 140 character “tweets” and gather followers, is becoming a major influence in Chinese society. Weibo was launched in late 2009.

“Sina Weibo is becoming the national watercooler of China,” said Sam Fleming, founder of Shanghai-based social media consultancy, CIC.

“It’s where people are sharing news, gossip. If you want to see what’s happening in China, you open your Weibo account.”

Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, became the latest Western luminary to hop on the Weibo bandwagon last week.

“To my Chinese speaking friends, here’s a translation of my APEC Summit statement,” Lagarde, wrote to her more than 120,000 followers in English on Monday.

A sophisticated social media strategy has become increasingly important for Western companies, with firms from Ford to Nestle increasing the proportion of their ad spend on the Internet and Facebook pioneering the mining of online data about users’ likes and dislikes.

Now that trend is spreading to China.

More than influence, the ability for multinational corporations (MNCs) to reach the Chinese public directly with their message is one of the reasons why Weibo is growing in popularity, branding experts say.

“It’s the quickest way to communicate with Chinese audiences,” said Rand Han, strategy director at Resonance China, a Shanghai-based social media digital agency.

“When done right MNCs can quickly locate their target markets, gather information, habits, etc., from available data, and begin connecting almost immediately at significant reduction in costs versus traditional media.”

Some analysts, however, caution that managing the “noise” on Weibo can be tricky because a brand message put out there can be readily challenged by Internet users on the platform.

That is not deterring companies and brands such as LVMH’s Louis Vuitton, Unilever Plc and Coca Cola Co, from opening accounts at least for now. China, with its burgeoning middle class, is a rapidly growing market for them and gathering insights via Weibo is essential in crafting branding messages.

“A lot of our brands that are growing in China, the multinational brands we work with see Weibo as an immediate opportunity to set up a stake in a way that they then have a voice directly to their consumers,” said Zaheer Nooruddin, lead digital strategist for Greater China for Burson-Marsteller.

BILL GATES TO MARIA SHARAPOVA

Celebrities have also caught the Weibo fever. Tom Cruise, who is affectionately known as “A-Tang Brother” in China, opened his account in February and now has almost 3 million fans.

Bill Gates, tennis star Maria Sharapova and actress Emma Watson have also taken to Weibo to promote their ventures and strengthen their fan base in China. Weibo says it has verified these accounts to be genuine.

Anybody who can navigate a Chinese website can register for a Weibo account. But in order to get verified, Weibo requires users to submit proof of identification. Companies can also apply for special enterprise accounts that give their Weibo page a more polished look.

The Chinese government has also taken note with numerous government departments and officials using the platform.

Shanghai’s Communist Party chief said on Tuesday that government officials must respond swiftly to the needs of the people expressed through Weibo and other new media outlets and not hide their heads in the sand.

Sina employs technicians to censor content on Weibo that contains politically sensitive keywords. China’s tolerance of Weibo so far is in part due to the willingness of Chinese Internet firms to self-censor.

For foreign companies, the key benefit of Weibo is that it provides them with a clear dominant platform to go to in what was once a fragmented social media scene, experts say.

This has allowed foreign companies to move beyond the traditional marketing to more creative approaches, such as interactive campaigning, that resonate with the Chinese people, they say. If used properly, Weibo can also be effective in countering negative news.

Last week, official media reported that China’s quality watchdog found toxic content in five brands of tea, including the Lipton brand. In response, Unilever posted on its Weibo account (www.weibo.com/unilevercn) that its “Tieguanyin” tea product was in line with national standards and included photo scans of tests done on its product.

“People universally respond to honesty and true connection. If brands are willing to give (that), then they can turn a negative situation positive,” Resonance China’s Han added.

Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Digital Inspirations – Personalization Marketing

Let’s get personal! That’s the mantra behind the marketing campaigns to come out of some of the world’s biggest brands in the past couple of months. Social media has opened up a wide world of *insert name* marketing and we’re starting to see how effective this approach can be both online and offline.

SO WHAT IS IT?

Personalisation is at its root the use of technology-based innovations to accommodate varying individuals – that is, their interests, habits, desires, needs, etc. The concept of course, isn’t new. This is something marketers have been doing for years and years – think direct mail. However, the significant innovation we’ve seen in technology has taken this trend to new levels.

Marketers use personalisation in two ways – firstly to tailor their messages to different audiences and secondly to address them in a more personal manner (i.e. talk to them about their personal interests, not just about what the organisation is interested in). It’s the second of these approaches, which has been leading the personalisation trend of late, with two successful campaigns coming from some of the world’s favourite brands – see Coca-Cola and Heinz examples below.

Image source: Coco-Cola on Facebook

Social media specifically has allowed brands to know more about their customers and tailor their approach to them in a whole new way. We used to talk about our audiences in terms of demographics – that is the statistical characteristics of a population (e.g. age and gender). Now it’s about psychographics, or the attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests or lifestyles of individuals. While this information could have been gathered before, social media makes it easily accessible to organisations through the “interests” and “info” sections in our social media profiles and the conversations we take part in. Again before, psychographic detail was often used to generalise about a population, creating mass audience groups, for example, “Gen X” and “Baby Boomers”. Now, because this type of information is more available, we’re seeing niche, highly relevant, groups like “foodies” and “mumfluencers”.

SOME GREAT EXAMPLES OF PERSONALIZATION

This is one of my favourite campaigns in the year – not just because its Coca-Cola, but because what is essentially a very simple idea, has grabbed the attention of Australia over the past month, featuring on TV, in print and all over our social networks. For a limited time, Coke is distributing bottles with individual names printed on the labels and since the launch, we’ve seen personalised Coke bottle photos appearing in Facebook profile pictures and endlessly shared between friends. Nice.

Fancy a can of soup with your name on it? Know someone who is feeling a bit under the weather? Well Heinz is also getting in on the personal game by encouraging you to tell your friends to “Get well soup!” with virtual, personalised messages. Check out the campaign on their Facebook page here.

HOW CAN WE USE IT?

This is just the beginning of how personalisation, and the ability to really know your customer before you speak with them, will change marketing in the future. Here’s a couple of ways to stay ahead of the game and use this wealth of information to the benefit of your PR activities:

Personal tweets – know your audience’s interests and talk directly to them (via @ messages) if you have news on something that relates to these interests. Remember tone is really important here – it’s a fine line between being a creepy stalker with a corporate agenda and being authentic about the conversation.

Launch event – personalise your invitations with the Twitter handle or photos from invitees’ social networks. Again you need to be careful about the “creepy stalker” point above and ensure your brand or client is already connected with these people online.

Product seeding/sampling – tap into your social networks to find people who would be interested in giving your product a test run.

- This content is posted here courtesy of Carly Yanco. Carly Yanco is the Head of Digital at Burson-Marsteller Australia.

Digital Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Insights: Corporate Use of Social Media

Social media has been a buzz phrase for some time now, yet its impact and its relevance remain questioned. For some, these new channels are a byword for disruption and loss of control, for others it’s a wonderful opportunity to expand cost-efficiently into new customer segments and markets and to build real interest and loyalty in one’s brand.

Consumers are pointing the way forward, taking to microblogs, social networks, mobile social applications and other tools with ease and often breathtaking enthusiasm. Social media of different types now dominate Internet use, with Facebook leading online time in Australasia, Hong Kong and across a swathe of Southeast and South Asia, while domestic players such as Tencent, Naver, FC2 and Wretch are hugely popular across North Asia.

Asia is shaping the Internet and social media in terms of technology and behaviour. Sina’s Weibo (micro-blog) platform is considerably more technically sophisticated than Twitter. Asian-based social networks and online gaming platforms introduced virtual currencies and online transactions long before their western counterparts. Smartphones are already near saturation point in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.

One of the most conspicuous aspects of social media in Asia is its highly contributory culture. According to Forrester Research, Koreans and Chinese are the most active creators of online content in the world4, uploading vast quantities of video, photographs, and blog posts every day. Indonesians love to share news and updates using Twitter. Clearly, organisations looking to target consumers, especially the under 30s, must now incorporate social media into their marketing mix or miss their target. It is equally clear that the Internet and social media are now critical.

The growing challenge of reputation management

Accelerated information flows make it much harder for companies to manage their reputations. With journalists, bloggers and other opinion-formers assiduously tracking micro-blogs for breaking news and combing discussion boards for story ideas, companies must approach the Internet as a core tool to track topics and issues relevant to them and as a channel to build relationships with existing and new influencers.

In parallel, it is clear that NGOs and activists, as well as disgruntled customers and local communities, have become much more adept at using the many low-cost channels and tools at their disposal to share their experiences, voice their opinions, organize campaigns and raise funds. Social media are a crucial part of their new weaponry.

In addition, large and especially publicly-listed companies are under pressure to become more transparent and accountable, in part due to government intervention, in part due to increased stakeholder and consumer expectations of good behavior, and in part due to ever greater demands for information and dialogue.

This raises the question as to how organisations should structure themselves to participate with the multiplicity of stakeholders actively using social media. Most organisations are struggling with questions such whether engagement should be handled centrally or locally. Who are the appropriate spokespeople? What are the skills and How companies are responding?

Social media provide an opportunity for organisations to increase awareness of their activities and to build interest, trust and advocacy amongst their stakeholders. That they can also do this direct with their audience and by-pass conventional gatekeepers is also an attractive proposition.

Yet enthusiasm amongst companies in Asia has been muted. Last year’s Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study by Burson-Marsteller identified that top Asian companies had largely been hesitant to use branded social media channels to communicate with corporate audiences.

This hesitancy is also evident in more recent research showing that most companies believe they are poorly prepared for crises that emerge and spread online, despite believing that digital has made them more vulnerable and made responding to a crisis more challenging.

Research for this year’s study shows that more top Asian companies are using branded social media channels for corporate marketing and communications, with 81% of firms covered – double the number across Asia in 2010 and almost on a par with the 84% of Fortune 100 companies – now using branded social media channels.

It is clear that Asian companies are also leveraging a greater number of the channels at their disposal, with just under a third using three social media channels or more, compared to only 3% in 2010. Conversely, only 19% of firms are not using any form of branded channel for corporate purposes – a significant increase on the 60% identified in 2010.

Preferred social media channels

Social networks are proving the most popular social channel for corporate marketing and communications. This might be regarded as surprising, given that Facebook – the top social network across much of Asia-Pacific – tends to be regarded more as a consumer marketing channel. Yet many Asian firms have opted to focus their activities on a single branded profile that is used for both consumer and corporate marketing.

In our experience, the principal reason for this is that social networks were mostly first used by firms looking to increase awareness and buzz about their products or services. Corporate teams then piggy-back on these established channels, often in addition to advising on messaging and governance.

It is also true that many firms have started (and continue to start) their official social network presence without considering carefully their target audiences and objectives. In this ‘me too’ scenario, companies develop a channel in the corporate name and see how it evolves based on a combination of its popularity, user feedback, resources and content available.

Less surprising is the fact that Asian companies are deploying micro-blogs for corporate purposes. Twitter, the weibos (‘micro-blogs’) in China or me2day in South Korea tend to be seen more as influencer networks of journalists, bloggers and brand advocates, while also being used by media outlets and publishers to extend their online presence.

Given the relative ease of resourcing micro-blogs and their search engine-friendliness, firms are more likely to set up a dedicated corporate channel that serves a broad range of purposes. Asian companies are also starting to develop standalone profiles for product brands and specific corporate functions, notably recruitment.

Micro-blogs are also popular as they are typically seen as an additional information ‘push’ tool, enabling broader dissemination of content and messages across the Internet and, increasingly, to mobile devices. Better still (from a corporate perspective), there seems little need to engage in sustained discussions – for most Asian companies the main forum for dialogue is face-to-face.

This reluctance to enter into public dialogue is testament to a widespread conservative business culture; it also means there is less chance of firms losing face in front of others. Hence also the general lack of enthusiasm for corporate blogs, where conversation is expected – even if it actually tends to be limited (in many instances, almost non-existent). And while video sharing platforms rarely attract significant levels of corporate-related discussions, they remain in the minority across much of the region, despite the very high popularity of online video in most markets.

For many firms in Asia, the slick corporate paean to superior leadership and products remains the video of choice rather than the more ‘genuine’, on the ground feel that is now commonplace amongst Western companies.

Local differences

The use of social media for corporate marketing and communications is by no means consistent across Asia-Pacific; some markets are very aggressive, the majority are active if cautious, a few remain highly conservative.

On the whole, north Asian firms are the more aggressive users of social media. Often focused on managing costs, they view social platforms as a cost-effective route to build short-term market share in their domestic markets. And for both established and emerging players in China, Japan and South Korea expanding into foreign markets, social media is now a critical component of the marketing mix to reach both corporate audiences and consumers.

Leading north Asian companies are also more likely to use video, though this tends to be more a reflection of their impressive broadband networks than their desire to use video, graphics and other visual formats to tell their corporate story.

Compared to last year, Australian and Indian firms are placing greater emphasis on social media, especially in their use of micro-blogs and, to a lesser extent, social networks. In both markets, journalists, activists and business decision-makers are actively using Twitter, which are seen as central to the evolving online reputational ecosystems. By contrast, social networks are regarded principally as consumer vehicles.

The most startling change has been in Southeast Asia – notably amongst Malay, Thai, Philippino and Indonesian firms – most of which were barely using social media at all twelve months ago. What’s behind this shift?

Their fast expanding local online Internet populations and improved telecom infrastructures are one reason. Playing catch up with peers and competitors in the region has also doubtless spurred action.

The relative volatility of their online cultures may also have played a part. All these markets have witnessed the emergence of a more vocal, and politicized, citizenry, who are more willing to express their views on their political systems, corporate behaviour and quality of products and customer service. Leading companies in these countries realise they must at least have a presence in these conversations.

Push and pull communications

Questions that corporate communications professionals (rightfully) ask before participating in social media include:

What are we going to speak about? What’s going to resonate with users? Do they really want to hear about our company news and point of view? How often do we have to post? Who should answer feedback, and how often?

As we saw in last year’s study, Asian companies are – and remain – much more focused on pushing news and information at users rather than responding to comments or actively engaging them in conversations.

This reluctance to get into online discussions has many explanations, not least the lack of dedicated resources with the necessary skills and remit to reach out across the organisation for a response, express it in an appropriate manner and be able to manage the necessary follow-ups.

It is also likely that many corporate communicators do not fully appreciate the interests, requirements and behaviours of their audiences (other than some key journalists). What about product marketing? Few invest in qualitative or quantitative research that can yield invaluable insights into stakeholders’ interests and content preferences.

At another level, the reluctance to get into conversations is also evident in firms’ preference to use their branded social media channels primarily to relay corporate news direct to opinion-influencers in the hope that they will report it and share it with their own online networks.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is another area where companies feel relatively comfortable when using social media. Examples of local community programmes or business commitments to reduce electricity use or to recycle water are naturally ‘Like’-friendly and can work well as short videos. Even better if people can be persuaded to contribute their own suggestions or ideas, as Pepsi has done with its Refresh Project.

While CSR can help paint a softer picture of the entity, companies need to also be aware of the risks of being seen to over-claim or misrepresent the facts. As market research agency Nielsen has shown10, the Internet is fertile ground for activists and others looking to pick apart corporate claims, especially concerning ‘green-washing’ and the environment.

Another notable area of corporate social media activity is crisis and issues communications. While crises are rare, issues of different types need to be handled regularly, a tricky proposition when it is taking place in the full glare of your Facebook page.

With the corporate rumour mill now real-time and global, companies are profoundly aware of the potential for customer complaints and other issues to escalate overnight into full-scale problems. Some Asian firms are monitoring and responding to negative posts, albeit on a largely ad hoc basis. But the majority feel they are unprepared to handle online crises.
Long- term commi tment and short-term campaigns

Similar to last year, this study reveals high levels of inactive branded social media accounts that were either not updated during the research period or that had been registered but not used.

Clearly, many firms continue to struggle to identify the content and topics of conversation that will help sustain interest over the long-term – indeed, developing a regular stream of engaging, relevant content (especially video) and dialogue is challenging for many organisations.

There is also another explanation for the high levels of inactive accounts: the large numbers of social media profiles that were set up to support product marketing campaigns and the management of official social media profiles takes considerable time and effort, and demands organisations think carefully about their marketing and communications objectives, marketing mix and channel strategies.

Despite this, the high percentage of inactive accounts indicates that many Asian organisations are yet to develop a sustainable social media strategy that places social media in the context of the broader marketing mix, including ‘traditional’ PR, internal communications, knowledge sharing, marketing, customer service and sales.

In the meantime, a high proportion of top Asian companies continue to treat their corporate social media as pilot projects, keeping them deliberately separate from the company website. While firms may remain wary of the capacity for users to say what they want, keeping their social channels at arm’s length also makes it more difficult for users to find them and reduces their effectiveness.

Looking at China – Burson-Marsteller’s Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011

China’s internet is growing explosively, with 485+ million Internet users of which some 235 million are social media users, with a year-on-year growth rate of 33.7%13. So it is little surprise that more and more companies in China – both local and international – are jumping on the social bandwagon.

This year’s study shows that all the companies surveyed are now using at least one corporate social media channel, most often a corporate blog, sometimes a social network profile and, increasingly, a weibo (micro-blog profile).

Micro-blogs, in particular, have been the talk of the town over the past twelve months, with huge numbers of users (Sina and Tencent both now state they have over 200m users for their respective weibos), and playing an active, and highly visible role, in the Zhejiang high-speed train crash and a series of protests, scandals and natural disasters.

The weibos – especially Sina, which is seen to have a more educated and influential user base – are proving popular for marketing and communications purposes. China Merchants Bank, for instance, now counts well over 300,000 followers of its Weibo account.

Yet while the weibos are in vogue for both consumer and corporate marketing and communication, and some firms can boast high numbers of followers, actual dialogue with users remains very thin, certainly on corporate marketing and communications topics.

The relative lack of dialogue is precisely why many firms feel comfortable using weibos in the communications mix – they are primarily used to disseminate information as far and as wide as possible, rather than truly ‘engage’ users.

This may seem to contradict companies’ (ongoing) use of corporate blogs, with half of the companies surveyed having one or more of these channels. Yet only 20% of these blogs were active during the research period, pointing to a larger issue – the paucity of skills to man these channels and feed them compelling content on an ongoing basis, and a general lack of commitment to fill this need.

The fact that social media channels in mainland China are rarely promoted, let alone integrated, with the corporate website also indicates that companies remain cautious in this area. In China, there are good reasons for caution, not least due to the uncertainty surrounding the weibos – will they be regulated? Or has the government let the social cat out of the digital bag?

Meantime, Chinese companies would do well to clarify who they are aiming at and why they are using social media.

A common mistake is simply to focus on the quantity of fans/followers, ignoring their quality and influence. This may be a reason why “zombie followers” (inactive or fake followers manipulated by some companies / individuals for business purposes) have become prevalent in China recently.

- Leon Zhang is Burson-Marsteller China’s Digital Strategy & Insights Lead at D/BM. D/BM is Burson-Marsteller’s integrated social media influencer practice for China. D/BM supports its clients by monitoring and analyzing online reputation and issues, by fostering digital advocates, and by developing social communities that enable enriched communications and marketing in the digital age.

Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011 – Executive Summary

Social media is now a key channel for corporate marketing and communications across Asia.

• Top Asian companies are placing greater emphasis on deploying social media channels for corporate marketing and communications, with 81% of firms covered – double the number across Asia in 20101 and almost on a par with 84% of Fortune 100 companies2 – now using branded social media channels.

• South Korean and Chinese companies are most active in their use of social media for corporate marketing, especially to domestic audiences. However, many companies also view social media as a means to build awareness amongst international stakeholders.

• While few top Asian companies have no corporate presence or voice in social media, firms in Taiwan and Singapore continue to use social media sparingly, a reflection of their conservative business cultures. Corporate social media strategies remain short-term and piecemeal.

• Despite corporate marketing taking advantage of an ever greater array of social media platforms, over half of these branded accounts are ‘inactive’. The great majority of social media channels are used primarily for product marketing campaigns, which are rarely updated after the campaign has ended.

• Few Asian companies have set up social media channels specifically for corporate marketing or communications purposes, with most opting to piggy-back on consumer channels. While this one-size-fits-all approach enables firms to reach an established community quickly, it also means that it can prove more difficult over time to segment users and target them with relevant corporate news and information.

• Most firms are failing to promote their social profiles through their websites, implying that they continue to regard their efforts as pilots and remain wary of negative discussions ‘over-spilling’ on to their core owned assets. Continued corporate focus on pushing information, rather than stakeholder engagement.

• Social media provides companies with an opportunity to use content and dialogue to drive user interest, sharing and advocacy. However, most firms are making little effort to engage audiences in corporate-related discussions, preferring instead to push content at users in a manner consistent with ‘traditional’ public relations and marketing.

• The most popular use of social media for corporate purposes across Asia is to reinforce and extend ongoing media and influencer outreach. Engaging core stakeholders on ‘softer’ topics such as Corporate Social Responsibility or Thought Leadership as a means of stimulating questions or feedback take a back seat.

• In a similar vein, other than in South Korea and China, very few Asian firms use overtly two-way communications channels such as corporate blogs for corporate marketing purposes, despite their value in helping explain complex topics. Micro-blogs are the preferred standalone corporate marketing channel. Corporate digital storytelling remains in its infancy.

• While video is hugely popular on the Internet, the great majority of company video sharing channels are product marketing vehicles. Corporate use of video in Asia is mostly limited to illustrating good social deeds and some leadership communications.

• Accordingly, companies are missing a significant opportunity to bring alive their activities in ways that audiences can relate to and might want to share with others.

- From the 2011 Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study

Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011 – An introduction by Bob Pickard

When we conducted Burson-Marsteller’s first annual Corporate Social Media Study in 2010, it was striking that Asian companies were eyeing social media tentatively, even skeptically, fearful of what might happen should someone post something negative on their online front-door.

This year, despite many more firms dipping their toes in the social swirl, it is clear that Asian firms remain reluctant to get involved in open online discussions, in part because they tend to be highly conscious of their image and fearful of publicly losing face, in part as they realize – correctly – that committing to social media is not something to be done lightly.

(Photo: Bob Pickard)

Let’s face it, social media isn’t for every occasion. Using the web to lobby governments accustomed to hammering out deals in smoke-filled rooms will probably miss its target, and may simply alienate officials. The business media remain a more credible source of information, news and analysis than Sina Weibo or YouTube for board directors. Most senior decision-makers are uncomfortable with the concept of blogging on industry issues and having to defend difficult or controversial decisions openly.

But for most audiences, the Internet and social media are indispensable to their working and personal lives, for talking, sharing ideas, meeting new people, conducting research and making decisions. If you’re under 30 you’re unlikely to pick up a newspaper – news is consumed in bite-sized chunks between stretches of work, networking and gaming.

To reach and persuade stakeholders today, it is not just the vocabulary and tone of corporate marketing that must evolve. More important, companies must adopt a mindset that puts listening and acting genuinely and transparently front and centre. And they must understand how to deal with negative feedback expressed publicly that could resonate and escalate.

When the upside is a greater ability to reach and influence corporate stakeholders of all types, and the downside is appearing disinterested or irrelevant, companies have little option but to participate on social platforms.

I hope you enjoy this study. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post them to our

Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/bursonmarsteller.asia

We’d love to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Bob Pickard
President & CEO
Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific
bob.pickard@bm.com
@bobpickard

Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific’s Corporate Social Media Study 2011

October 26, 2011 – Asia’s top companies double their social media presence compared to last year.
New study finds most are still focused on pushing information rather than engaging in dialogue.

burson-marstellerasia-pacificcorporatesocialmediastudy-111025005207-phpapp01

More than 80 percent of companies listed on The Wall Street Journal’s Asia 200 Index have a corporate social media presence, up from 40 percent last year, according to the 2011 Asia-Pacific Corporate Social Media Study by leading global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Showing dramatic growth, the top companies in Asia closed the gap with Fortune 100 companies, where 84 percent of companies use social media channels for corporate marketing and communications.

“The fact that twice as many Asian multinationals are using branded social media channels this year compared to last underlines the opportunity for global corporate communications on digital platforms based in Asia,” said Bob Pickard, President and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. “Companies in Asia are approaching Western levels of adoption but there’s a long way to go when it comes to community engagement in cultures where ‘face’ remains more important than Facebook.”

Key findings from the study include:

• 81 percent of top Asian companies have a branded corporate social media presence, over double the figure for 2010 and in line with the 84 percent of Fortune global 100 firms
• 31 percent of companies use at least three social media channels, up from three percent in 2010
• 19 percent of companies still have no official corporate social media presence
• 30 percent of companies use social networks for corporate marketing and communications, up from 20 percent in 2010
• 28 percent of companies use micro-blogs for corporate marketing and communications, up from 18 percent in 2010
• 62 percent of social media channels surveyed were inactive, and the same percentage of companies do not promote their social media channels on their homepages

Overall, companies in Asia continue to use social media to ‘push’ news and information at users, rather than engage in discussions, with 33 percent of activity across Asia-Pacific focusing on basic media and influencer outreach, as opposed to engagement on substantive corporate topics such as Corporate Social Responsibility or Thought Leadership. Only nine percent of firms surveyed use corporate blogs for corporate marketing and communications, despite their value in helping explain complex topics.

“Companies in Asia currently lack the perspective and resources to develop and protect their brands in a strategic, structured and measurable manner using social media”, said Charlie Pownall, Burson-Marsteller’s lead digital strategist for Asia-Pacific. “Asia-based corporate decision-makers expect web-based crises to impact their businesses in the next twelve months; hence we expect a much sharper focus on proactive reputation management and greater participation in online conversations going forward.”

The percentage of leading companies in Asia with dedicated video sharing channels is up 50 percent over last year to 12 percent. This is still below the global average of 57 percent as found by the Fortune 100 Social Media Check-up. Video is hugely popular on the Internet and easily drives conversation, but the great majority of company video sharing channels are product marketing vehicles.

“To reach and persuade stakeholders today, it is not just the vocabulary and tone of corporate marketing and communications that must evolve,” said Bob Pickard. “More important, companies must adopt a mindset that puts listening and acting genuinely and transparently front and centre. And, they must understand how to deal with negative feedback expressed publicly that could resonate and escalate.”

Reputation In The Cloud Era – Burson-Marsteller Digital Crisis Communications Study 2011

Below are key highlights from this key Burson-Marsteller Digital Crisis 2011 Study:

- 59% OF BUSINESS LEADERS HAVE EXPERIENCED A CRISIS IN THEIR CURRENT OR PREVIOUS COMPANY
- ASIA-PACIFIC BUSINESS LEADERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE EXPERIENCED A CRISIS
- CONTROVERSIAL COMPANY DEVELOPMENTS ARE THE MOST COMMON CRISIS ENCOUNTERED
- DROP IN REVENUE AND CUT-BACKS/LAY-OFFS MOST COMMON IMPACTS OF CRISIS
- 79% OF BUSINESSES ARE ONLY 12 MONTHS FROM A POTENTIAL CRISIS
- HALF THINK THIS WILL HAPPEN IN THE DIGITAL SPACE
- PRODUCT SAFETY AND ONLINE SECURITY FAILURE SEEN TO HAVE HIGHEST IMPACT ON REPUTATION
- ASIA-PACIFIC BUSINESS LEADERS ARE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT PRODUCT SAFETY
- ONLY HALF OF COMPANIES HAVE A CRISIS PLAN
- NEARLY HALF OF THOSE WITH A CRISIS PLAN FEEL THAT THERE ARE STILL GAPS

Click here for PDF of the full study:
Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Digital Crisis Communications study

Burson-Marsteller China – On Weibo, Social Media and Reputation

In China, social media channels such as “weibo” (microblogging) have emerged in 2011 as THE dominant platforms for content (A) creation, (B) discussion, (C) commenting and (D) sharing. Social media has logically become a leading consideration in the development of more impactful Reputation and Issues & Crisis Management strategy.

The influence of traditional state media outlets in China has only slightly been diminished with the rise of weibo (microblogging) and social content in China. What has fundamentally been affected by social channels and content is “control” of the conversations that take seed around issues and companies. While traditional and online news outlets in China still ‘break’ official news, this news is then disseminated widely and commented upon, with real-time social platforms and content.

With state-media outlets consistently silent on sensitive issues that are related to governance and that have implications on the reputation of the state in China.

Strict control measures are in place in China to prevent the construction of state media and online news media content that is ‘anti-State’, or that can cause disharmony. Official online state media coverage of issues that are ‘sensitive’ to state policy – international or domestic – are, in most cases, scarce to non-existent.

In this context, there is the significant digital and social content trend that ‘news breaks’ and information evolves on social media channels (on which state-run agencies have large, often anonymous, presences), without “official” contents from state-run media sources. This is especially true for events that are not transparently reported on by state-owned media.

Social platforms represent a major opportunity toward direct engagement by state-run and private corporations, as a means by which to direct audiences to messaging and content on contentious issues, thereby influencing conversations. This influence of conversations in turn influence reputation. This phenomenon represents a significant shift in how news content in China spreads.
Particularly, the popularity of weibo in China, with its active user-base, and real-time social content producing and sharing mechanisms, is forcing organizations to review how deal social audiences and content in China. It is critical for companies to develop social strategies (often as part of IMC strategy), to more effectively manage corporate and brand reputation in China.

Challenges that organizations face with social content in China

With social content having become a driving force of Word-of-Mouth (WOM), and WOM having, in turn, become THE most trusted channel of information about brands, companies, and their products, brands are facing serious challenges with the popularity of user-generated reviews. The challenges are mainly three-fold, and concern an organization’s immediate and long-term prospects for (1) Reputation (2) Sales and (3) Loyalty.

With the rise of social media and social reviews, organizations are no longer in control of the content available, broadcasted and shared about their products. This loss of control in brand and product messaging poses a formidable new and unprecedented range of challenges for brand marketers. Social content and reviews often deal with customer service issues – both positive and adverse – experienced by consumers, and brands need to integrate their efforts internally to better succeed at sales.

No longer can the activities of a marketing department be viewed and considered in a silo, since the activities of sales, after-sales, and customer service, play an equally powerful role in determining whether positive or negative product and brand experiences had by customers. This in turn determines the nature of social content and reviews online, which affects the quality of marketing-communications of a brand and, ultimately, for sales.

In the age of social voices and content, is it possible for organizations to succeed?

It is definitely possible for brands to succeed in this new age. But brands need to re-calibrate their approach to communications, marketing and customer service. So long as companies see these disciplines as mutually independent of each other – as they have traditionally done in the past, prior to the advent of social technologies and media – brands will continue to face severe challenges – even crises – with users voicing their opinions and experiences.

D/BM tips for organizations in the age of social content:

The keys, as D/BM sees it in China, are three-fold.

(1) Integration: Companies will need to work closer together, sharing resources and knowledge between marketing, PR, sales and customer support departments, to meet the real-time challenges of user-generated content. Doing so will also create long-term cost-savings in a company’s marketing and customer support functions.

(2) Listening: Companies should listen to WHAT their audiences and stakeholders are saying online, to WHOM is voicing opinions and generating the most meaningful and influential content, and to WHERE online (in which network, platform or forum) they are actively developing social content.

(3) Advocacy: Companies need to engage social content and influencers meaningfully, finding touch points to develop long-term relationships, and to reward influencers and users for their content and commitment. Developing communities of influencers, who can be nurtured into advocates, is the key to defending online reputation.
Indeed, social content represents nothing less than the future of reputation management, communications and marketing programming in China.

————

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific’s Digital CMO and the firm’s Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China. Contact Zaheer and D/BM at Dropbox at BM dot com

Burson-Marsteller China on ZDNetAsia: Social Reviews Tricky, but Rewarding

In the era of user-generated reviews and users wanting a voice in everything, brands face numerous challenges in reputation management, according to marketing experts, who advise that customer reviews and social media should be embraced, and stress the importance of listening, engaging and being sincere.

User-generated content and reviews online have become the singular driving force in influencing word-of-mouth marketing, and have become the most trusted channel of information about brands, companies, their products, Zaheer Nooruddin, digital chief marketing officer at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, pointed out in an e-mail.

China-based Nooruddin’s observations were backed up by consumers ZDNet Asia spoke to, who stressed the importance of independent reviews in their decision to commit to a brand.

Jeannie Wong, a consultant, said that she always reads reviews before deciding to purchase items and appreciated that they–including negative ones–”pre-empted” her on what to expect. Alvin Lai, marketing manager, shared that the one time he did not read online reviews prior a product purchase, he bought “the worst camera [of] my life”.

Student Robin Tan added: “I prefer making my decision through user reviews because [they have] an air of objectivity, as compared to the somewhat deceiving promotional materials which are forced upon us.”

Brands not coping well with phenomenon

In a GigaOM article last month, the ability of user reviews and ratings to influence behavior was described as the “TripAdvisor effect”. Ratings sites in particular, it said, are threatening to make brands irrelevant.

According to Nooruddin, with the rise of social media, brands are no longer in control of content available, broadcasted and shared about their products. “This loss of control in brand and product messaging poses a formidable new and unprecedented range of challenges for brand marketers,” he explained.

As a result, brands are facing serious challenges with the popularity of user-generated reviews, which affect a brand’s immediate and long-term prospects for brand reputation, product sales andcustomer loyalty, he said.

Jon Chin, vice president of digital integration at Fleishman-Hillard Southeast Asia, noted that most brands are averse to negativity and fixated on ensuring that online channels “capture the brand’s essence” or any positive association–instead of focusing on whether the brand messages are communicated through to the target audience.

Concurring, Nikolaus Ong, digital strategist of engagement planning and analytics at MRM Worldwide, observed that many organizations are afraid of not knowing how to handle negative responses appropriately. Some brands, Ong said in an e-mail, do not even want digital marketing as it can potentially “attract negative responses that remain unanswered”, kicking up more issues for them to deal with.

In addition, brands are not skilled or resourceful to open up their content or marketing activities to include user-generated reviews, he pointed out.

“The online [world] is beyond just a reputation management system, from a brand perspective,” Chin said. “It is also a place where it can gather insights based on the conversations out therewhich in turn inspire strategy and tactic making.”

Reviews and social media as opportunities

Brands that wish to make user reviews work for them will need to “re-calibrate” their approaches to communications, marketing and customer service, Burson-Marsteller’s Nooruddin noted.

He explained that user-generated reviews often deal with both positive and adverse customer service issues, experienced by consumers, and brands need to integrate their efforts internally to better succeed at sales. “The activities of a marketing department can no longer be viewed and considered in a silo, since the activities of sales, after-sales, and customer service plays an equally powerful role in determining positive or negative product and brand experiences had by customers,” he said.

Kelvin Quee, head of partnerships at JamiQ, added that a brand should “play social media to its advantage”. Citing Dell as an example, Quee said the hardware giant has over 5,000 employees engaging customers using social media–generating US$3 million in sales in 2009. Social media returns on investment (ROI) “can’t get better than this”, he pointed out in an e-mail.

Dell’s achievement marked a turnaround from a “major social disaster in 2005″, when well-known journalist and blogger Jeff Jarvis complained in a blog post about “awful after-sales service” from the company . The incident eventually escalated and even gave rise to the phrase “Dell Hell”. What followed was a re-examination of its new media strategy, Quee explained.

Chin of Fleishman-Hillard agreed that brands should view social media as opportunities to further engage with its targeted audience and “humanize” themselves. Social media did not “invite criticism”, he explained, and it allows brands to even better engage their audiences and “make them advocates”.

“It helps in brand recognition, recall and favorability,” he said. “Brands will be able to stimulate dialogue with customers and build relationships with useful content, regardless positive or negative, to help create meaningful discussion.”

At the same time, Chin noted that organizations do not need to worry unnecessarily about user-generated reviews, which are “authentic” and go a long way online and even offline as trust is built in incremental steps. Contrary to popular belief, online audiences are objective and the online community self moderates, he pointed out.

When users pose a “not so positive” comment or review, brands should instead view it as “I do like you but in this instance, you failed to meet my expectation–I am helping you meet my expectation”, he advised.

Listen, engage, be sincere

JamiQ’s Quee said at the end of the day, brands must “hear through the noise” to what consumers are really saying. “Everyone needs to listen. Even listening passively lets you know what you are doing right or doing wrong.

“If you do something about what you have heard…that is immensely powerful.”

Social media, he added, should not be purely a sales medium. According to Quee, AirAsia andStarHub as some of the “most enlightened organizations” using social media as both an outreach channel and support mechanism.

Staying true to corporate and brand values is also paramount. If a brand is dishonest, no amount of corporate investment or “whitewashing” can save it, Quee warned.

Chin concurred that brands must be genuine and sincere in their approach and “respect the community’s rules”. Consumer behavior can and should be influenced through compelling content–businesses must not try to “make a sale”, he said.

“Give the community a reason to respond, share valuable and useful information which will give them utility and make them go ‘wow’,” Chin added. “Participate with them, accept your brand weakness and what they have to say, and thank the community for their feedback.”

Brands must also be careful not to view social media as a campaign, Chin cautioned. Social media is a commitment and consequence of what they do and brands must think long term and engage users in a timely manner, he said.

- This article was re-posted here from the original article on ZDNetAsia that appears at http://www.zdnetasia.com/user-generated-reviews-tricky-but-rewarding-62302416.htm?src=linkedin

Burson-Marsteller China – Telling Asia’s digital stories with data. Our new Social Media Infographics for Asia

In its first day of release, our new Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Social Media #Infographics Booklet has received a lot of positive attention. I wanted to share some background on how we designed the E-Booklet and conceived of the idea in the first place.

The project was born out of two different perspectives. The first: Burson-Marsteller’s – and D/BM’s – data-driven approach to Digital & Social Media Strategy engagement. An Evidence-Based imperative is THE central platform and promise of Burson-Marsteller in Asia-Pacific and globally, and it is always with evidence as the starting-point that we align our strategies and counsel clients in the integrated communications and public relations spaces. The second: our collective fascination at the firm in Asia-Pacific with new forms of digital storytelling. We’ve seen that data visualization is a potent, new form of digital storytelling. Infographics form the basis for some really cool opportunities to show data in what are, ultimately, more engaging and interesting ways for the viewer.

B-M Asia-Pacific social media infographics e-booklet_1.2

So, these two lines of thinking, combined, were the basis for the project.

Gathering the right data sets was important for us. We felt that the internet and social media landscapes of Asia-Pacific markets, was of most relevance for our first series of data visualizations. Putting media consumption trends into context was important too. We felt that, showing internet penetration trends, as well the overall populations of each market, gave our infographics data set a more complete and well-rounded picture for the viewer.

While we worked on these Asia-Pacific Social Media Landscape infographics, I came to see three macro-trends.

RAPID GROWTH – YET, THE BEGINNING
The first and more obvious one that stands out for me is just how rapidly the internet in reaching more people in Asian markets – from China to India to Vietnam. Perhaps there is no market where internet penetration growth rates over the past decade are not in the triple digits. Even developed markets such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, have shown hundred plus percent growth rates. And developing markets like Indonesia, India, China and the Philippines have shown thousand percent plus growth rates. Of course, the biggest story in internet penetration is Vietnam, clocking in at a phenomenal twelve thousand percent in the last decade.

NEW, YET SAVVY
The second is that, despite the internet being an emerging medium to so many millions of users in Asian markets who find themselves coming online for the first time every day, users are remarkably sophisticated in their general usage patterns and media consumption habits. Asians have proved themselves to be early adopters of social networking and social media channels. They are quickly connected and are extremely adept collectively, at sharing information, ideas, news, and opinions online. The internet is relatively “new” to parts of Asia, and yet, at the same time, it is already so pervasive and powerful.

DIVERSE ASIA
The last, is the sheer diversity of the region. Let’s never forget just how diverse our region is. In Asia, there are no two countries that can claim to have the same popular online and social media channels. Each country in Asia has its unique patterns of internet, mobile, and digital channel consumption – with their own nuances of language and media – online and social. What this set of social media landscape infographics represent to me, more than anything else, is the awe-inspiring multiculturism of the Asian continent and the Asia-Pacific region. This is a trend that will no doubt persist with time.

The Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Social Media #Infographics E-Booklet is truly a treasure trove of digital information about our region.

We hope that you find it as useful as we found it fun to design.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Burson-Marsteller’s Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China, and head of D/BM, Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media influencer practice. Find out more by emailing D/BM at dropbox@bm.com

Burson-Marsteller China 如何用信息图表讲述故事并赢得新业务

Zaheer Nooruddin先生，D/BM（博雅公关亚太区的中国数字和社交媒体部门）的数字媒体战略顾问和负责人，将在下文中教您如何利用信息图表将故事讲得引人入胜。

这里有一个鲜为人知的事实，也是拿破仑•波拿巴第一个道破的真谛：“一图胜千言”。

说到语言，当今继“社交媒体”之后，在中国、亚太，甚至全世界范围内最新最热门的词汇就是“信息图表”。它们在商业和科技博客上似乎已经无处不在。彩色的图形、类似于漫画的柱状图和线条随着现在每一个页面的打开而弹出，充斥于网络。

在2009年以前，信息图表还不是我们词汇库中常用的一个。但在最近几年，我们的词汇发生了改变。提到“喜欢”我们就会想到Facebook，说到“加” 我们又会想到Google，或者说到“Google”我们又会自然想起……你已明白我的意思。这个列表还在不断延续。

视觉化呈现数据并不是一个新的概念。毕竟，一个好的老式地图其实也是个信息图表，向我们展示着抽象的信息，如用一个简单的比例在纸上画出大陆和海洋。还有很多其它类似于地图的东西，据我们所知，它们已经出现了很长一段时间了。

欢迎来到这个利用数字技术讲述故事的世界，这个故事与视觉设计相遇的地方。

如今的信息图表通常有一个柱状图并且试图用一点创新来给我们多一点信息。这些创新有时会归于平庸，但有时却可能是天才之作。

一个好的信息图表通常是有一些艺术性的。它可以引发对观众真正的冲击，甚至给予观众一种异乎寻常的灵感。

犹如一个精心制作的故事或歌曲，一个精彩的信息图表会讲述一个引人入胜的故事，每个看过的人都会感觉有所不同。有时候效果很好，它可以激发更多的有关此主题的研究和讨论；而还有一些时候，你仅仅是翻过此页继续阅读，根本忘记了它的存在。

这也许可以解释为什么信息图表正在越来越多的被代理商制作，而且在无论线上还是线下的传播和市场营销活动中变得越来越重要。信息图用言简意赅的方式讲述故事，这也是代理机构和公关公司的工作内容，也可以说是其受客户之托所必须履行的使命。

信息图表在本质上是一种使话题中复杂的数据和概念变得容易被读者接受的表述方式。请看一看这个汇集了多个精彩案例的信息图表集。在这样一个信息泛滥的时代，我们正在被信息用前所未有，甚至让人警觉的频率频繁轰炸，而炸弹就是每天来自政府、机构、企业或者个人的数千条不同内容的资讯，这些资讯如果想要抓住读者的注意力，绝对不能冗长啰嗦。

想象信息图表是一个只使用一帧或一个图像的音乐视频或者30秒电视预告。

记住下面四个技巧将帮助你创作出出色的信息图表，并赢得新业务:

1. 获取正确的信息或数据。这步非常关键，因为这些信息决定了你要讲述的故事和你最终设计的图像。
2. 提出恰当的问题然后找到你的故事。这些问题会帮助你找到你想要的风格和将要用到的工具。
3. 搜索相关趋势和模式。这对如何安置你的故事非常重要。
4. 开始设计。当你开始设计的时候你要想想你的听众。

当然，我们正越来越多的看到动态的信息图表——在本质上也可以说是社交媒体时代的30秒的电视广告。请点击Nigel Upchurch’s，查看这位新西兰的图像设计师的作品，点击这里和这里查看其它设计精巧的视频信息图表。

如果把信息图表定义为用图形呈现的故事，那么当可口可乐公司投放名为“快乐工厂”的电视广告时，似乎没有其它品牌在这一点上做的比它更好了。

无论是谁想出了这个创意，显然，他利用这个创意赢得了一项新业务——一项十分优质的新业务！相信我，这个广告一定不便宜。

我最喜欢的信息图表中，有一部分讲述的是历史故事。这个是我非常欣赏的一个，我有时能够花很多时间去研究和消化其中的内容。

在亚太地区，信息图表经常被用于解释大量主题，比如该区域内国家繁荣指数的快速增长，以及各地区的数字媒体格局和数字社区。

例如在博雅公关亚太区，我们最近创建了一个信息图表，用来讲述社交媒体和社交网络在不同市场的差异。

设计一个好的、能够讲述故事的信息图表绝不是一件容易的事。

要成功地做到这点，需要进行深入研究，对手中数据有深刻理解并拥有创新的思维。

对于初学信息图表和用数据讲述故事的人，观看这部叫做“如何使用数据讲述故事” 的精彩视频短片，将带给你很多指导。

如果我只能留给你一条信息，希望它是这样的一句话：信息图表将是未来讲述我们所居住的这个世界、我们的生活以及我们企业时不可或缺的一种方式。

步入未来，没有企业能够不使用视觉化的观点和数据而将故事讲好。这是一个需要我们去拥抱的理念，而且要用心的去拥抱。正如没有什么比把好故事讲糟糕更可怕的事，同样，没有什么会比设计糟糕的信息图表更不适宜。

我的预测是，未来，代理商视觉化处理他们观点的能力将成为其赢得或失去业务的关键。

现在，你也许会屏住呼吸地问我；“那么，接下来呢？”

让我们看看……Google+赞助了augmented reality音频信息图表，其它的让我们拭目以待吧。

- Zaheer Nooruddin 是D/BM——博雅公关亚太区的中国数字和社交媒体部门的数字媒体战略顾问和负责人，此文章首发于Campaign Asia的数字媒体专栏。

Burson-Marsteller China – On infographics and the art of digital storytelling in Asia

Here’s a little known fact: It is Napoleon Bonaparte who first uttered the immortal phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Speaking of phrases and words, one of today’s newest and hottest, not just in China and the Asia-Pacific region – but around the world – after ‘Social Media’ – happens to be ‘Infographics.’ They have become almost ubiquitous on business and technology blogs. It seems like they pop up almost everywhere online today – colourful graphics, filled with cartoon-like bar charts and line drawings.

It so happens that infographics wasn’t a major part of our collective vocabulary before early 2009. Just in the last few years though, how our vocabulary has changed. Try saying the word ‘Like’ – without thinking of Facebook. Try saying ‘Plus’ without thinking of Google. Or, try saying ‘Google’ without thinking of… you get the point. The list goes on.

Presenting data visually is by no means a new concept. After all, a good old fashioned map is actually nothing more than an infographic. Showing us an abstract, incomprehensible piece of information, like a drawing of the continents and vast oceans of this Earth, in a simple scale drawing on paper. And things like maps, as we know, have been around for… well, for a very long time.

Welcome to the world of digital storytelling – the social web age in which we live, where storytelling meets visual design.

Today’s infographic takes than an average bar chart and attempts to educate us all a little more by being just a bit more creative. Sometimes that creativity falls flat and is uninspiring, while at others – it can be pure genius.

A truly great infographic can be something of an artistic vision. It can induce real impact, even bestowing a form of transcendent, meditative inspiration on its viewer.

Like a masterfully-crafted story or song, a good infographic tells a compelling story, and everyone who experiences one views it slightly differently. Sometimes the effect is good, spurring more research and animated discussion around a given topic; at others, you just turn the page and move on, forgetting that it was ever created.

This might explain why infographics are increasingly being developed by agencies and featured in communications and marketing campaigns, in the both online and offline arenas. Infographics tell stories – and that is also what agencies and PR firms do, or are commissioned to do by clients – concisely and well.

Infographics, at their heart, are simple and neat ways to make complex data and concepts about any topic easier to digest. Have a look at this showcase of some amazing infographics, collected in one place for easy viewing. And in an age when we are bombarded by information at an amazing, unprecedented and even alarming pace – by literally thousands of distinct pieces of information each and every day – stories told, whether by governments, institutions, companies or individuals, cannot afford to be long-winded if they are to have a chance at grabbing the attention of audiences.

Think of an infographic as a music video or a 30 second TV spot, but told in just one, single frame or image.

Here are four quick tips to keep in mind on how to create awesome infographics to win business:

1. Get the right information/ data. This is critical, as the information you decide to present will drive your storytelling and the ultimate design of your graphics.

2. Ask the right questions and find your story. Your questions will help you understand what style and tools you will need.

3. Search for trends, patterns. These will be important differences to layer your story with.

4. Start designing. Think of your audience as you start the design process.

Of course, increasingly we are seeing animated infographics – which are essentially 30 second TV spots of the social media age. Check out Nigel Upchurch’s, a graphic designer in New Zealand, very smart and well-made video infographics here and here.

If one defines an infographic as a story that is graphically visualized, then perhaps no brand ever did a better job than the Coca-Cola Company, when it released a TV advert called “The Happiness Factory”.

Whoever thought of that one, obviously won a nice piece of new business with his or her idea – and a good piece of new business, at that! Trust me when I tell you that advertisement wasn’t made on the cheap!

Some of my favorite infographics tell stories from history. Here’s a great one that I admire and could spend whole minutes looking at and absorbing.

Source:

In the Asia-Pacific region, infographics are often used to explain a myriad of topics, such as the rapid rise of the continent’s national prosperity indices, to the region’s diverse digital landscapes and communities.

Creating a good infographic; one that tells a story is by no means a simple task.

Doing so successfully takes research, a deep understanding of the data set at hand, and a creative mind.

If there’s one thing I leave you with, please let it be this: That infographics are an integral part of how we will tell stories about the world that we inhabit, and the lives we lead, the businesses we grow.

Moving into the future, no business will be able to tell good stories without visualizing ideas and data. It is a concept that needs to be embraced, and embraced well. Just as there is nothing quite as horrible as a badly-told story, there is also nothing quite as unseemly as a badly-developed infographic.

My prediction is that agencies will win and lose business based on how they are able to better visualize their ideas.

Now, you might ask me, gasping for breath as you do, “…so, what’s next?”

Let’s see… Google+-sponsored augmented reality audio infographics, anyone?!

—
- This article was first published in Campaign Asia on July 29, 2011.

Zaheer Nooruddin is Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, for Greater China.

Burson-Marsteller China 数字灵感. 社交得分，从虚构走向现实

近十年前，Cory Doctorow写过一篇科幻小说（书名是Down and Out in the Maggic Kingdom），描述了一个未来的后稀缺经济，那里信息和生命的本质都是自由的。在小说中，每个人都有一个“Whuffie”分（是的，你没有听错）——一种基于声望的流通货币，这种货币取代了钱币，代表了一个人的总体声誉。这种声誉来源于这个人对社会做出的贡献。

文化中决定的好的或者有价值的行为可以增加Whuffie分，而一些普遍认为不好的行为会降低你的得分。如果你的Whuffie得分很高，你就会赢得更高的信誉并且在社会中有更强的影响力，同时你可以享受最后的食物和衣服等。较低的得分则情况正好相反，也会降低你的社交影响力。感觉熟悉吗？

社交资本或社交得分的概念已经在非虚构的意义上出现了一段时间了，但它才刚刚到达沸点并成为现实。

这是什么？

社交得分即一个人基于网络影响力的得分。这就是说他在微博（或Twitter）上粉丝的数量，Facebook（中国的开心和人人？）上好友的数量，网络上的互动等，全部用来衡量你在社交媒体世界中的得分。

在Doctorow的小说中，由于有方便的脑植入物，每个人都可以看到其他人的Whuffie分。在我们的世界中，社交计分系统包含在互联网当中，但这也许不会持续很久。这个模型显示了augemented reality在现实生活中实现的潜力，那就是使用面部识技术别联系起个人的网络角色和社交得分。

你也许已经熟悉了存在的社交计分系统，如Klout, PeerIndex和Twitter Grader。他们都已经对数百万的在线用户进行了打分——这个数字马上将变成数十亿。这个结果说明每个人都会有他们的个人品牌，这将决定你在社交圈中的影响力。

一个社交 排名系统听起来像一个可怕的类似于高中的排名系统，而且我们与其他人的互动正在被一个算法评估这个想法很可怕——但这的确是一个事实，而且会影响到我们的互动、交流、购物、工作申请甚至网络约会。

因此，无论好恶与否，我们的网络角色在现实生活中的作用正变得越来越重要。而且，品牌已经捕捉到这个趋势并且使他们的营销活动从中受益。现在，请摘掉你的社交公民的帽子然后戴上传播专业人士的帽子然后考虑：能否把社交得分加入到你的下一个数字公关活动？

如果你还是不相信，请看看其他企业是如何成功运用它的吧。

成功案例

Virgin 航空公司通过为在Twitter上高社交影响力得分的人们提供免费航程班推广他们的新航线。为了衡量影响力，Virgin选择了与Klout合作，综合评价了包括“粉丝”质量和数量以及转发量等因素。这个活动的结果就是产生了4600关于新航线的推文和740万次在博客和新闻网站上被提及。

类似的，在阿拉斯加的Palms酒店基于客人在Klout上面的分数提供特殊津贴，包括一般房间和专享房间以及酒店的优质设施。

如何应用？

推出新产品——考虑下邀请在Klout（ 或类似工具）上有较高社交得分的消费者，从而鼓励有影响力的社交媒体发展活动外的讨论。

产品样品——扩展你的产品适用意见领袖库，去涵盖在你的目标受众中具有高Klout分的人。

品牌使者——考虑邀请高Klout分的人们（他们在网络曾谈论过你的客户或相关领域）作为下一次活动的使者。

如果你有任何关于社交计分或相关使用建议，请与我联系。
同样，欢迎任何关于每周数字灵感的反馈。

Burson-Marsteller China 数字灵感 : 社交得分，从虚构走向现实

近十年前，Cory Doctorow写过一篇科幻小说（书名是Down and Out in the Maggic Kingdom），描述了一个未来的后稀缺经济，那里信息和生命的本质都是自由的。在小说中，每个人都有一个“Whuffie”分（是的，你没有听错）——一种基于声望的流通货币，这种货币取代了钱币，代表了一个人的总体声誉。这种声誉来源于这个人对社会做出的贡献。

文化中决定的好的或者有价值的行为可以增加Whuffie分，而一些普遍认为不好的行为会降低你的得分。如果你的Whuffie得分很高，你就会赢得更高的信誉并且在社会中有更强的影响力，同时你可以享受最后的食物和衣服等。较低的得分则情况正好相反，也会降低你的社交影响力。感觉熟悉吗？

社交资本或社交得分的概念已经在非虚构的意义上出现了一段时间了，但它才刚刚到达沸点并成为现实。

这是什么？

社交得分即一个人基于网络影响力的得分。这就是说他在微博（或Twitter）上粉丝的数量，Facebook（中国的开心和人人？）上好友的数量，网络上的互动等，全部用来衡量你在社交媒体世界中的得分。

在Doctorow的小说中，由于有方便的脑植入物，每个人都可以看到其他人的Whuffie分。在我们的世界中，社交计分系统包含在互联网当中，但这也许不会持续很久。这个模型显示了augemented reality在现实生活中实现的潜力，那就是使用面部识技术别联系起个人的网络角色和社交得分。

你也许已经熟悉了存在的社交计分系统，如Klout, PeerIndex和Twitter Grader。他们都已经对数百万的在线用户进行了打分——这个数字马上将变成数十亿。这个结果说明每个人都会有他们的个人品牌，这将决定你在社交圈中的影响力。

一个社交 排名系统听起来像一个可怕的类似于高中的排名系统，而且我们与其他人的互动正在被一个算法评估这个想法很可怕——但这的确是一个事实，而且会影响到我们的互动、交流、购物、工作申请甚至网络约会。

因此，无论好恶与否，我们的网络角色在现实生活中的作用正变得越来越重要。而且，品牌已经捕捉到这个趋势并且使他们的营销活动从中受益。现在，请摘掉你的社交公民的帽子然后戴上传播专业人士的帽子然后考虑：能否把社交得分加入到你的下一个数字公关活动？

如果你还是不相信，请看看其他企业是如何成功运用它的吧。

成功案例

Virgin 航空公司通过为在Twitter上高社交影响力得分的人们提供免费航程班推广他们的新航线。为了衡量影响力，Virgin选择了与Klout合作，综合评价了包括“粉丝”质量和数量以及转发量等因素。这个活动的结果就是产生了4600关于新航线的推文和740万次在博客和新闻网站上被提及。

类似的，在阿拉斯加的Palms酒店基于客人在Klout上面的分数提供特殊津贴，包括一般房间和专享房间以及酒店的优质设施。

如何应用？

推出新产品——考虑下邀请在Klout（ 或类似工具）上有较高社交得分的消费者，从而鼓励有影响力的社交媒体发展活动外的讨论。

产品样品——扩展你的产品适用意见领袖库，去涵盖在你的目标受众中具有高Klout分的人。

如果你有任何关于社交计分或相关使用建议，请与我联系。
同样，欢迎任何关于每周数字灵感的反馈

Burson-Marsteller China – Australia Digital landscape [INFOGRAPHIC]

Burson-Marsteller China – India Digital landscape [INFOGRAPHIC]

Understanding Social Media in the B2B space in China – D/BM

Adapted for China from an original article by Burson-Marsteller Australia’s Carly Yanco

Hopefully by the time you finish reading this, we will have convinced you that social media can be just as effective for B2B campaigns as it can be for consumer. While consumer marketing has naturally evolved to leverage social media channels such as RenRen and Weibo, there still seems to be questions around how to use them for B2B and the most appropriate platforms.

SO WHAT IS IT?

If you Google “great B2B social media campaigns” this is what you get – IBM’s now infamous Jeopardy challenge in the US, which saw its supercomputer “Watson” compete and win against two of Jeopardy’s greatest ever champions.

At first look, you might think this campaign hasn’t used social media and that it’s not B2B, but they have and it is. IBM has no consumer business and while Jeopardy is a broadcast on a consumer channel – TV – it reaches a mainstream audience and IBM saw it as a way to show Fortune 1000 companies what they can offer them. Yes, IBM paid a significant amount to be on Jeopardy, but they didn’t pay nearly as much to promote it prior to airing. Instead, they carried out a grassroots social media campaign (designed to complement and drive the overall marketing push) by creating a Facebook page and Twitter account for Watson. In addition to this they tapped into their extensive blogger community and uploaded more than 30 videos to YouTube – together receiving over one million views.

In the wake of the campaign, it’s been reported that IBM was “swamped” with inquiries from corporations, universities and government agencies. That’s what social media is about for B2B marketing – attract the attention of people and leads for potential customers and clients.

So IBM did it, but what about companies without a genius supercomputer to flaunt and a marketing team willing to reach customers when they’re in a “Jeopardy” mindset?

· Management consulting firm Accenture uses a careers group on LinkedIn to engage potential employees – it currently has over 7,000 members.
· Banking group HSBC created an online network to attract business entrepreneurs and provide them with an active forum to share and gain knowledge. The HSBC Business Network has over 140 blogs created by members.

STILL NOT CONVINCED?

So we know it has been done, but do businesses actually want to hear from other businesses online? Or do we need to be reaching stakeholders when they’re in their “Jeopardy” mindset?

You’re probably already familiar with the Social Media Revolution video that’s been doing the rounds online and in client meetings. Meanwhile, they go deep into it in the blog community and upload more than 30 videos on Youtube, which has more than1 million visitors.

HOW CAN WE DO IT?

Social media is not one size fits all and it’s not for every business or marketing campaign. However, the impact and discussions on social media should be considered as part of almost every campaign.

Furthermore the “digital C-suite” is a growing trend that will become more and more important in the years to come. If 53% of C-level executives prefer to locate information for themselves, where are they finding it? Online! Here are some tips on how B2B companies can use social media:

Integrated marketing campaigns– a tip to using social media to support a campaign is that it’s all about content. Searchable, engaging and insightful content that says something about your business that a banner ad or press release couldn’t – and thanks to social media people can tell you what they think of it, instantly.

Community development – no matter the business, there’s always a need to engage stakeholders, facilitate discussions and share opinion. Social platforms, whether they’re internal or external, are already being used to do this and companies like IBM (they’ve got this social media thing down pat!) are masters at knowledge sharing within the organisation as a result.

Recruitment– LinkedIn is the obvious platform for this, but it’s also a great way to facilitate conversations with your communities and share thought leadership.

Are you convinced? We hope so.

If you have any questions about using social media for B2B campaigns, please contact D/BM at dropbox@bm.com.

D/BM is Burson-Marsteller China’s integrated digital and social media practice. Special thanks to Burson-Marsteller Australia’s Carly Yanco for the original content.

Burson-Marsteller China 数字灵感- B2B 企业在中国市场环境下如何使用社交媒体

希望在你读完这篇文章之后，我们已经成功地说服你社交媒体对于B2B活动可以像对消费者一样有效。当消费者市场逐步自然地推动社交媒体渠道，比如Renren和Weibo，那么如何使用它们为B2B企业服务呢？

这是什么？

如果你在Google中搜索“最棒的B2B社交媒体活动”，那么你将会看到这个——美国IBM现在声名狼藉的“危险挑战”。你可以看到它的超级计算机“Watson”与两名”危险挑战“最杰出的冠军对抗，并且最终赢得比赛。

第一眼看到这个，你也许会认为这个活动并没有用到社交媒体而且不是B2B，但事实是两个答案都是肯定的。美国IBM没有直接面向消费者的商业活动，同时”危险挑战“是通过消费者电视频道发表的广播——主流观众都可以看到，而且美国IBM认为这是向财富1000强企业展示IBM可以向他们提供什么的好方法。没错，美国IBM为”危险挑战“支付了一大笔钱，但是他们没有在产生评论前花费。相反，他们展开了一个草根社交媒体活动（用于补充和推动全面的市场活动），为Watson增添了一个Facebook页面和Twitter账号。与此同时，他们深入广泛的博客社区，而且在Youtube上传超过30个视频——这些一共有超过一百万次的访问量。这些推广活动的结果就是美国IBM收到了无数来自企业、学校和政府机构等的询问，这就是社交媒体在B2B营销活动中的作用——引发人们的关注和潜在客户的开发。

美国IBM这么做了，但是对于那些没有超级电脑可以炫耀的企业该怎么做呢？还有那些希望拓展市场但却处于危险心态的团队又该如何行事呢？

· 管理咨询公司埃森哲利用职业社交网站LinkedIn与潜在雇员互动——现在拥有七千多名成员。
· 汇丰银行建立了一个网上社区从而吸引企业家并为他们提供一个活跃的论坛和交流相关知识。汇丰商业社区已经有140多篇由成员创建的博客了。

你还是不相信吗？

美国IBM的确这么做了，但是其他的企业也希望在网上收到其他商业的消息吗？或者说我们需要在利益相关者处于“危险”心态的时候去接触他们吗?

你也许已经看过社交媒体革命的视频了，它已经在线流传并且在客户会议上展示。这是一个包含社交媒体统计信息的视频，更适合商业、专业人士和B2B营销者。

我们应该怎么做？

社交媒体中没有一成不变的策略，也不是适合任何商业或市场营销活动。不过，社交媒体的影响和相关讨论应该被视为存在于每个活动中。

而且，“digital C-suite”会在未来几年持续增长并且越来越重要。如果53%的C级管理人员更倾向于亲自查找信息，那么他们会从哪儿查找？当然是网络！以下是一些关于如何为B2B企业使用社交媒体的小技巧：

整合营销活动——一个用社交媒体支持内容为主的营销技巧。可搜索性、互动性和讲述关于你的企业有深度的内容，一切横幅和新闻稿所不能的——多亏了社交媒体，人们可以立刻告诉你他们的看法。

网络社区拓展——无论何种商业类型，都需要和利益相关者进行互动、讨论和意见共享。社交平台，无论是内部或者对外，已经被用于这些活动，一些企业如IBM（已经使用了社交媒体！）精通于组织内部知识共享。

人才招聘——LinkedIn是一个典型的平台，同时这也是一个和你的社区促进交流和分享思想领导力的好方法。

你现在被说服了吗？我们希望是的！

如果你有任何关于B2B社交媒体的问题或使用建议，请联系D/BM，电子邮件：dropbox@bm.com.

D/BM是博雅公关中国成立的整合数字与社交媒体部门，特别感谢博雅公关澳大利亚的Carly Yanco为我们提供该博文。

Burson-Marsteller China – A look at Online Shopping in China: Driving Sales and Reputation

At D/BM we believe that online channels are becoming critical to driving sales and loyalty. User-generated product reviews and discussion about products and brands is readily available and accessible across various online channels, thanks to the rise of social media platforms in China. With this shift in how customers share information, maintaining and managing customer relationships online have become central to the success in e-Commerce and e-Tailing in China.

Besides having the world’s largest internet population, China also earned the title “world’s largest web market”. The internet, as a medium for shopping, has taken off exponentially in the last few years, as consumers become more prosperous in Tier 1 to 3 cities and online audiences become more comfortable with the concept of online shopping. Online sales rose at a remarkable rate of 22% in 2010, reaching 4.5 trillion RMB ($684 billion USD)* in B2B, B2C and C2C sales.

In fact, in 2010 consumers’ online spending nearly doubled to 513.1 billion RMB (77 billion USD), which works out to roughly 3% of total retail sales in China.

The number of online shoppers grew from 121 million to 158 million in 2010. This rise can be attributed to a combination of rising inflation in offline retail environments and to a growing confidence in online payment security and delivery systems.

Consumers prefer shopping online in China, more than ever before, due to cheaper prices and the sheer convenience. Additionally, confidence and reliance on online shopping have strengthened as companies consistently improve their services and as product quality improves.

With millions in China currently shopping online regularly, what do these new-age shoppers do if they are not satisfied with their customer experience, brand or product? iResearch, a web-based China research company, conducted a study that shows that a majority of the users in China complain through online channels. Even if the course for resolution of customer dissatisfaction takes place through traditional customer support channels such as a company’s service hotline, Chinese customers tend to favor sharing their experiences, opinions and complaints through more open and social online channels. These include online forums, microblogging services (weibo) and in “guestbooks” or in the online comments section of a company’s website.

These comments have direct implications on the negative or positive perceptions of a brand, and can potentially lead to future loss of business.

Identifying and investing dutifully in monitoring online channels for complaints by proactively responding and interacting with consumers to address customer support-related issues, in addition to offline channels, helps to build better relationships with online shoppers.

It is important to note that, especially in Weibo and online forums, news and comments around online shopping experiences and customer dissatisfaction can be shared quickly reaching mass audiences at an unprecedentedly fast rate. This might be a potential trigger for a crisis, and both B2B and B2C companies should strongly consider ways to mitigate such situations from taking shape online. The opportunity to monitor online channels, and identify customer issues, has never been more relevant in China than they are now.

- Rachel Yeung is Digital Analytics and Activation Lead at D/BM, Burson-Marsteller China’s integrated digital and social media influencer practice

Posted by Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller China 中国网上购物概况：产品促销和声望

在D/BM我们认为网络渠道对于产品促销和客户忠诚度来说正变得越来越重要。由于中国社交媒体的兴起，来自用户的产品和品牌评价可以通过众多的网络渠道共享。对于中国的电子商务和网络零售来说，在线信息共享以及客户关系管理占据着举足轻重的地位。

拥有全世界最大的互联网人口的同时，中国还是全球最大的网络市场。在过去几年中，互联网作为购物媒介取得了飞快增长，这是因为二、三线城市消费者的逐渐活跃以及网上购物概念的逐步被大家所接受。在2010年的B2B、B2C和C2C市场中，网上销售量上升了22%，达到4.5万亿人民币（约6840亿美元）。

事实上，仅在2010年一年中，消费者的网上消费金额几乎翻倍，达到5,131亿人民币（约770亿美元），大约占中国总零售业的3%。

截止到2010年，在线购物人数从1.21亿增长到1.58亿人。主要原因是由于线下零售的通货膨胀和人们对在线支付和配送系统的信心增加。

价格相对便宜和显而易见的便利性使得消费者对网络购物的偏爱更胜以往。同时，中国网购者对在线购物的信心随着企业对服务和产品质量的不断提高而提高。

如今的中国，每天有上百万的人在网上购物，如果他们对品牌或产品使用感受不满意的话会怎么做呢？艾瑞网，一个基于网络的中国调研机构，进行的一份调研显示大部分用户会通过网络渠道抒发他们的不满。尽管在中国有客户支持渠道专门负责解决顾客的投诉或不满，但消费者更愿意在更为开放的网络渠道中发表他们的意见，包括网上论坛、微博、意见薄或企业网站的在线评论区域。

这些评论对于一个品牌的正面或负面形象有直接影响，而且可能会引发未来的商业问题。

在提供线下相关服务的同时，对线上意见的监控和及时有效的处理线上渠道的不满，以及在互动中处理用户的问可以帮助企业更好的与网购者建立关系。

需要注意的是，有关网上购物体验和用户不满的信息和评论会以非常快的速度传播出去，尤其在微博和论坛等平台。这可能是危机的潜在触发点，因此B2B和B2C企业应该严肃考虑如何在网络中缓解这种形式。就监控网络空间和发现用户问题来说，这在中国是一个前所未有的机遇。

- Rachel Yeung 是博雅公关中国数字和社交媒体整合部门D/BM的数字分析战略顾问。

Burson-Marsteller China 动态发展的中国互联网和社交媒体格局—D/BM 2011年中回顾

众所周知，中国互联网发展非常迅速，越来越多的中国人在日常生活和工作中使用着互联网。最新数据显示，2011年上半年，中国网民人数已达477,000,000，超过三分之一（35.6%）的中国人口总数。这使得中国成为了拥有最多网民人数的国家，已经超越了美国。

中国排名前五的网站是：百度，QQ，淘宝，新浪和优酷，各自的覆盖面分别为88.9%，67.6%，50.1%，46.4% 和 38.0%。无论是从市场份额还是用户人数来看，百度都是中国最大的搜索引擎，而且也是很多中国网民的上网入口。QQ（qq.com）是腾讯旗下网站，腾讯以其领先的即时通讯产品QQ著称，并拥有全面的互联网产品线，不仅包括了即时通讯产品，也包括了新闻门户网站、社交网络、微博等很多其它产品。淘宝（隶属于阿里巴巴集团）成立于2003年，目前已经是中国领先的电子商务平台，并致力于电子商务基础服务和生态系统的打造。优酷是中国领先的视频分享门户网站，成立于2006年，并于2010年成功在美国纽约证券交易所上市。

社交网络在中国同样发展迅猛。排名前五的社交网络是：QQ空间，腾讯朋友，人人网，新浪微博和开心网，各自的覆盖面分别为46.0%，17.8%，16.0%，9.0%和4.7%。QQ空间和腾讯朋友都是腾讯旗下产品，其中，QQ空间属于昵称制社交网络，与QQ无缝集成，而腾讯朋友属于实名制社交网络，拥有很多学生和白领用户。人人网是中国领先的实名制社交网络，成立于2005年，前身是拥有大量学生用户的校内网。随着品牌更换为人人网，其受众群体也得到了进一步扩展。新浪微博是中国广受欢迎的微博平台，常常被人拿来和Twitter进行比较，但其实两者在很多方面还是有所不同的，比如评论机制以及一些其它交互机制。开心网也是中国最受欢迎和最大的社交网络之一，其目标受众群包括了很多白领人士。

社交媒体发展如此迅速，以至于其页面访问量已经远远超过了主流媒体的网络平台。例如，优酷，中国领先的视频分享门户网站，2011年5月的页面访问量为36亿，而同期新华网（新华社的新闻门户网站）的页面访问量为9.4亿。显然，无论对于企业还是个人而言，社交媒体都正在成为越来越重要的传播渠道和平台。

我们已经把这些重要而实用的数据制作成为了一个直观的信息图表。如果您有兴趣与我们共同探讨中国互联网和社交媒体的格局和机遇，可以随时联系我们的Twitter账户@DBM_China或新浪微博@BMChina。我们竭诚期待与您的沟通！

Leon Zhang (张亮) 是D/BM的数字媒体战略顾问。D/BM是博雅公关中国的整合数字与社交媒体部门。

Burson-Marsteller – China’s dynamically evolving Online and Social Media landscape – A mid-2011 review by D/BM

As we know, Internet has been growing very fast in China, and more and more Chinese are using Internet in their daily life and work. In H1 2011, according to the latest data, number of Internet users in China has reached 477,000,000, which is over 1/3 (35.6%) of total China population. This makes China the top 1 country with the highest number of Internet users in the world, higher than United States.

The top 5 websites in China are: Baidu, QQ, Taobao, Sina and Youku, with the reach% of 88.9%, 67.6%, 50.1%, 46.4% and 38.0% respectively. Baidu is the largest search engine in China in terms of market share and number of users, and is the entrance to Internet for many Chinese Internet users. QQ (qq.com) is from Tencent, which is well known for its leading IM (Instant Messaging) product QQ. Tencent has a very comprehensive Internet product line which includes not only Instant Messaging, but also News Portal, Social Network, Micro-blogging and a lot more. Founded in 2003, Taobao (from Alibaba group) is now a leading e-commerce platform in China, and is also focusing on building e-commerce infrastructure and ecosystem. Youku is a leading video sharing portal in China, which was launched in 2006, and successfully listed on NYSE on 2010.

Social networks have been evolving very quickly in China as well. The top 5 social networks in China are: Qzone, Pengyou, Renren, Sina Weibo and Kaixin001, and the reach% are respectively 46.0%, 17.8%, 16.0%, 9.0% and 4.7%. Both Qzone and Pengyou are from Tencent, while Qzone is a nick-name social network integrated seamlessly with QQ, and Pengyou is a real-name social network with many student and white-collar users. Renren is a leading real-name social network in China, which was founded in 2005 and previously called Xiaonei with a lot of student users. With its re-branding to Renren (Chinese pinyin, means “everyone”), it has been expanding its target audience groups. Sina Weibo is a popular micro-blogging platform in China, which is often compared to Twitter, though they’re not the same in many factors, such as comment and some other interaction mechanisms. Kaixin001 is also one of the most popular and largest social networks in China, and its target audiences include many white collars.

Social media is growing so fast in China that it has attracted much more page views comparing to the online presence of mainstream media. For example, Youku, the leading video sharing portal in China, has a page view of 3,600m in May 2011, while Xinhuanet (news portal from XinHua News Agency) has 940m page views. Obviously, social media is becoming a more and more important communication channel and platform for organizations and individuals.

We have consolidated these important and helpful data into the intuitive infographic. If you would like to discuss with us about online and social media landscape and opportunities in China, please feel free to contact us at @DBM_China (Twitter) or @BMChina (Sina Weibo). We look forward to talking with you!

– Leon Zhang (张亮) is Digital Strategy and Insights Lead at D/BM. D/BM is Burson-Marsteller’s integrated digital and social media practice for China.

Burson-Marsteller China – Forget Facebook: A Digital Q&A with Zaheer Nooruddin

Last week concluded a successful digital week for Burson-Marsteller globally.

Zaheer Nooruddin, Greater China’s Lead Digital Strategist, participated in a Q&A session to introduce our colleagues around the world to China’s unique social media landscape.

Question: What are the key digital and social media platforms in China and what should we know about them?
Zaheer: China’s key digital and social media platforms include Baidu, the search engine market leader in China, as well as Sina and QQ, two of the leading integrated web portals in China. On the social media front, within SNS there is Renren and Pengyou, as well as at least 10 other major players in the SNS space. For microblogging, there is Weibo, operated by Sina, and other significant microblogging services provided by Baidu, QQ, Sohu and 163. There are also emerging platforms such as professional SNS (LinkedIn for China) such as Ushi, as well as many major group shopping sites and location-based services. You should know that the digital and social media landscape in China is extremely crowded, complicated and dynamic. The landscape is evolving almost faster than anyone can keep a track of!

Q: Are companies active in social media in China? Do you have any examples?
Zaheer: Many companies are becoming increasingly active in social media in China. Multinational companies such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola and P&G brands are leading the trend. In the B2B space, interesting explorations in the space are being carried out by Chinese companies, such as China Mobile. Many companies have blogs, and more and more executives are adopting blogging and microblogging as means of communications with audiences and stakeholders. There are over 5,000 companies on China’s main microblogging platform, Weibo, already, and more companies are joining up every day. Companies in China are more active with social media marketing. Using social media for public relations and as a means to manage reputation is still a concept in its infancy in China.

Q: What’s the biggest misconception that clients have about digital or social media programs in China?
Zaheer: Clients tend to think that digital and social media programs in China are not measurable in terms of tracking ROI. This of course is a gross misconception, since, if done properly, there is no medium that is more measureable and tangible in terms of tracking effectiveness and results than the digital medium.

Q: What impact has digital media had on traditional media in China?
Zaheer: Digital media is rapidly changing the way traditional media operate. More traditional media are tracking companies online today in China than ever before, and are gathering views and forming opinions and stories about companies based on what they see online. This directly affects a company’s public relations. In terms of consumer confidence and trust, there was a recent report that showed that an astonishing 94% of Chinese consumers trusted companies that had social media presences more than companies that did not. Companies are increasingly aware of this shift, and are adopting social media presences to gain more trust with consumers. They are forced therefore to engage directly with consumers within social media. This in turn changes a company’s outlook on the balance between digital media and traditional media.

Q: Do you see any emerging trends for digital in China?
Zaheer: The Chinese internet is growing rapidly. It is expected to be the world’s largest internet, in terms of pages served, soon. It is already the world’s largest internet by online population, with close to 500 million Chinese online already, and that number growing by an average of 10 million each month. In terms of trends, this year’s story has been the rise of microblogging in China (weibo), but I think next year’s story will be the story of digital integration. It is increasingly difficult to view social media platforms, channels and content in silos in China. All these spaces are converging and integrating rapidly. It will be interesting to see who the winners are.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Leader Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific for Greater China, and head of D/BM, B-M China’s integrated digital and social media practice

Burson-Marsteller China – Quantity versus Quality of an Activity

Burson-Marsteller China – 11 on ’11 – China Digital Communications Trends

Download “11 on ’11 – China Digital Communications Trends” in PDF format

Burson-Marsteller China – The Only Thing People Want is Access

Burson-Marsteller China – Of Renren.com, and How Social Networking in China is Evolving Faster Than the Eye Can See

I recently came across a report by a local tech analyst company in China, Red Tech Advisors, about the status and “future-value” prospects of China’s RenRen (人人网) social networking platform.

Renren.com, as some of you will know, is one of China’s leading SNS site, often (quite erronously) referred to as “China’s Facebook.”

That is not to say that Renren was not once China’s Facebook; it very arguably was. In its previous brand incarnation as Xiaonei (校内网), the on-campus social network, by which it gained its credentials, developed a robust feature-led platform, and its massive following of students from China’s best universities and schools, Renren.com fast emerged as the leader of the SNS marketspace in China.

Its competition for the title of “King of Social Networks in China” at that time – not so long ago – mainly came from other stand-alone social networking sites like Kaxin001 (开心网) and 51.com.

How the times have changed! As with Social Media everywhere, so is it in China. In a matter of just a few years (we’re taking 2 or 3 years here), the social media and networking landscape has rapidly evolved. Gone are the days of “just a handful” of viable social networking platforms. In this time, new standalone rivals have emerged to make a play for various audiences and geographies in China, and old players such as Baidu, QZone and Sina, to name just a few (the big 3 Online News Portals – China’s veritable Google, Yahoo! and AOL – to offer a loose comparison) have expanded their traditional online media plays with new media business models – models in which Social Networking is at the center of their user retention strategies.

These days Renren finds itself in the business news again, as the company looks to consolidate its market share with major new funding and gets to ready to launch its first IPO on the New York Stock Exchange during this month.

There is no doubt that, with all the hype around China as the world’s largest internet market by far, with such dynamic prospects for growth in the Social Web and Media spaces, that Renren’s IPO bodes well for the Chinese tech company, and will act as a signal for further IPOs of similar success stories on China’s internet.

To me, the China Renren report is interesting on many levels. Most interestingly to anyone interested in Social Media in China, will be the fascinating study of Renren’s challenges. Certainly it is not going to be all smooth-sailing for the company, as it tries its best to stay relevant to as many Chinese as possible, increasing its audience and registered (and active) user bases as it moves forward. In fact, as one studies this report, it becomes clear that if anything, Renren has a major uphill battle against it.

Check out some of interesting timelines and comparative statistics and figures in this report; definitely worth a peruse.

Here are 11 key highlights about SNS (social networking sites) in China that I found in the report that were fascinating:

1. Renren suffers from a lack of differentiation in the crowded SNS market
2. Renren’s 120M registered users, only around 30-35M are active users
3. Gaming remains the top draw in terms of what people do on Renren, especially in Tier 2 & 3 cities
4. “Killing time” and “maintaining friendships” and “making new friends” are also top reasons to use SNS in China
5. Group Shopping is a big focus in how the platform will develop going forward for Renren
6. The most used apps on Renren are (1) Dairy (2) Photos (3) Music (4) Gaming
7. SNS is gaining over online News Portals like Sohu and Netease in terms of # of views. Only Sina is maintaining its lead due to its stand-out popular Weibo
8. Weibo (microblogging) is turning out to be SNS biggest “threat” currently. In fact, some SNS are turning to developing Weibo features to compete. Not to be outdone, some Weibo services in China (like Sina Weibo) are in turn developing out more robust social networking features within their microblogging platforms!
9. In terms of stand-out competition in the “pure” SNS space, QQ’s Pengyou is a rising threat to Renren’s market share
10. Unlike in the west, “integrated SNS” (the likes of what Google tried to do with Buzz, for example), has proved popular in China. There are a variety of integrated SNS platforms, competing for time and user-base share in China, with the “stand-alone SNS” platforms (such as Renren)
11. Prospects of the rumored Baidu-Facebook partnership in China look “highly challenging”

To conclude, what are my own key takeaways?

The Chinese SNS (and Social Media at large, for that matter) landscape will remain deeply fragmented for at least the next 1-3 years. Perhaps longer. Before a clear frontrunner emerges again, as Renren was to China’s internet in the mid and late half of the 2000s.

What I think we will see are “communities” developed within various SNS around “interests” – and as social media consultants, we need to talk to clients about the niche, targeting opportunities based on these insights about where their audiences and stakeholders are – i.e. within which cluster of SNS sites – some standalone, others integrated.

All in all, deeply fascinating stuff. Now then, who said China was simple?!

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 11 : Better Analytics & Measurement

Fueled by the adoption of smarter online monitoring and intelligence services, companies will for the first time in 2011 take charge of their online analytics, measuring digital programs against ROI in more meaningful ways in the bargain.

CIC, a provider of social media intelligence, teamed up, in November 2010, with Sina Weibo to leverage the incredible amount and quality of content on the microblog.

The partnership “is expected to lead to new models and methodologies to bring value to enterprises via social media intelligence and analysis.”

In 2011, we expect to see more sophisticated analytics platforms, from Baidu, Google, Sina, QZone and the like in China – and, equally importantly, we expect to see clients that increasingly demand as a matter-of-course, better digital campaign measurment frameworks around digital communications and social media marketing programs, than ever before.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – Please Like Me! – Measuring Social Media in Public Relations

Download “Please Like Me! – Measuring Social Media in Public Relations” in PDF format

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 10 : Mobile “domain”ation

According to CNNIC’s February 2011 statistics, 66% of China’s 457 million Internet users accessed the web via mobile phones. With the ascendance of the Mobile Experience as a primary enabler of influence, communications and marketing, companies will begin to stake their claims on customer attention by seriously investing in mobile web strategic presences like never before.

One company that is an early adopter of the Mobile Web is Ctrip.com, a travel planning site. Ctrip launched the mobile version of its website, m.ctrip.com, in April of last year. The new site allows users to easily book flights and hotels across China through their mobile devices.

Continuing its commitment to mobile options, Ctrip officially launched three application options for users – Google and Nokia apps can be downloaded directly from the site, while the iPhone app is available on the App Store.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is the Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 9 : Online Social Commerce

According to CNNIC, the number of online shoppers in China increased by nearly 50% in 2010 to 160 million users. Science and Technology Daily pegs group sales in China is already a RMB 409 million industry.

Fast to adapt: Renren. China’s largest social network, quickly moved to introduce “group shopping” features. Having launched in March of last year, Taobao’s group shopping site, ju.taobao.com, had sold over RMB 200 million worth of products to over 5 million users. Perhaps the most striking sale of the year was when the site sold 205 Mercedes-Benz Smart Cars in just 3 ½ hours.

The convergence of social networking and shopping began last year with China’s largest e-commerce portals developing social networking features. As of June 2010, only 6% of these buyers were using group buying services, but 80% had plans to try them in the future. Social commerce, driven by group shopping, will gain in 2011.

We’re just beginning to see the power and scale of group buying in the China market.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is the Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 8 : Location-based Communications

This year, China’s Tencent and Sina are developing Location-Based services of their own.With Nokia’s 250 million China customers and the influence of Tencent and Sina on Chinese netizens, this is sure to grow the power of LBS in China.

Today, there are around 30 location-based service (LBS) companies on the Chinese web.

And, according to Analysys International, by the end of Q3 2010, these sites claimed between three and four million active users.

As location-based networks grow, companies will market products using these platforms and services – adding relevance to their marketing campaigns like never before.

A relative newcomer to the LBS scene is qieke.com, a rebranded travel site, which is currently compatible with iOs, Symbian and Android phones. Qieke has partnered with more than 100 brands, including Lenovo and Starbucks, to offer special deals and discounts for users who check-in to certain locations. According to the company, the site already has 1 million users, 100,000 of which are active.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 7 : Social Search

Paid search and technical SEO is just a step in the battle for content visibility online. Companies will understand this point and invest more in targeting audiences via the seeding of digital messaging wherever they live online – in SNS and forums.

The potential and power of searching for information in real-time using the social web has recently been thrust into China’s spotlight as netizens tapped into social networks to reunite missing children with their parents.

Dr. Yu Jianrong, a professor of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, set up a Sina microblog account encouraging netizens to post photos of missing and young beggars.

To date, the microblog has posted 1,000 photos, gained 100,000 followers and reunited six children with their families.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is the Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 6 : Online Presence Integration

In 2011, those companies in China that have been worked hard at building their social footprint will finally integrate these channels with their corporate presences. Social Networking site fan pages, microblog streams, and externally hosted blogs will become increasingly visible on corporate websites.

Who wins? Everyone.

The online shopping site Taobao makes it simple to share your recent purchases with your network through various social media – showing your friends what brands and products you support.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China State of the Chinese Internet report (March 2011) – now available in Mandarin

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific, and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 5 : Social Networked Mobility

The rise of the Smartphone in China, by all projections, is set to be staggering.

According to statistics from Enfodesk, by the end of 2010, the number of mobile internet users had grown 19% from the same period in 2009, reaching 288 million.

The mobile market in China is now valued at over RMB 63.7 billion.

As more consumers connect to the net via mobile and use apps to share and connect more opportunities for targeted messaging and pervasive experiences by businesses will be available than ever before. Ericsson projects this number exploding to 800 million by 2015.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific, and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller China Mobile Abilities

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific, and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller China – Nice video, check it out: China Re-emerges

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific, and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 4 : Social-savvy Execs

Like their Western counterparts, CEOS and executives in China are realizing the need to open and actively curate their own social media presences online in order to manage corporate reputation and extend brand marketing activities.

Expect more sustained Executive Blogging – and Microblogging – than ever before, in 2011.

And it looks like they’re already on their way – 3 of the top 20, 5 of the top 30 and 10 of the top 50 microbloggers on Sina Weibo are executives.

Google China’s former CEO, Kai-Fu Lee, is widely known across China, not as the president of Innovation Works, but also as a famous online personality.

Kai-Fu Lee is a popular personal blogger and microblogger - his microblog is ranked #9 on Sina Weibo. Lee also runs a popular website to help young Chinese people with their careers in IT.

Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 3 : Private Social Networks

Dogged by issues of security and control, companies – B2C and B2B – will increasingly choose to invest in developing their owned social web sites within which to engage their audiences discreetly – retaining strategic control of the experience.

P&G’s “BeingGirl” social site, created to engage a young, female audience around issues of beauty and self-awareness, is a great example of a private social network has gone a long way to prove that gated, branded social platforms are smart strategic bets for businesses.

Zaheer Nooruddin is Digital CMO for Asia-Pacific, and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller China – Curious Cases; How Social Media Changed the World We Live In – and What Companies Can Learn.

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 2 : Data Visualization

Data visualization take center stage in how key information is communicated to stakeholders in 2011. Why? Because in a world where information overload for customers, clients and colleagues is a critical issue, nothing works better.

We know that the world wide web has made the sharing of messaging, data and information easier than ever. Great, right? Well, not always. This onslaught of numbers, statistics and facts can leave some people more confused than when they started, meaning you lose their attention.

Infographics visualize complex data, turning into a digestible byte, meaning that data is more likely to affect change in an audience. In China’s cluttered digital information highway, standing out is the key to being heard- infographics can help do that.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Greater China

Burson-Marsteller China – China Digital Trend # 1 : Social Media Re-Activation

In 2011, re-activating lapsed presences and launching new, more targeted ones by businesses will be a big trend.

According to Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific’s 2010 Corporate Social Media Study, while many companies rushed to establish online presences in 2007 and 2008, more than half of these lapsed into inactivity.

Understanding that Social Media is here to stay, companies that first adopted social media presences early on, but without cohesive social strategies, will try again.

From Burson-Marsteller China’s “11 on 11: Digital Communications China in the Year of the Rabbit 2011″ trends report

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific

Burson-Marsteller China: State of the Chinese Internet Report

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Greater China

Burson-Marsteller China – 11 on 11: China Digital Communications Trends in the Year of the Rabbit

Over the next few weeks we will discuss 11 Digital Communications Trends that we are seeing at Burson-Masteller China. We begin by looking at the year that has past us by, 2010, and the year ahead, to put our thoughts in perspective.

The year 2010 proved a milestone for digital penetration, communications, marketing and innovation in China. With rich media stories such as the continued ascendancy of Renren and Kaixin001, the fevered speculation around Google’s ‘exit’ from China, the start of new social concepts such as Location-Based Services [LBS] and Group Shopping the coming of age of Social Media as a mainstream channel for communications and marketing in China was writ as de-facto by the end of 2010.

Perhaps the most interesting trend was the phenomenal rise of Sina’s microblogging platform – Weibo, leading to spectacular issues, online crises, rumors, gossip, and more dynamic ways for businesses to market and communicate.

Many companies in China still continue to struggle with the new realities of the real-time “Social” Web. Social technology advancements have so fast and furiously altered the landscape of corporate reputation, brand management, public relations and market influence.

Burson-Marsteller’s Corporate Social Media Study, published last November, revealed how large organizations and multinationals, particularly, have yet to sustain cohesive strategies around Digital Engagement and Social.

This is likely to change quickly over the next two years. If 2009 and 2010 was a period of “digital foreplay” for companies at large, then 2011 and 2012 are pegged to be the year of “digital embrace.”

Defining future communications trends is never an easy task. Nowhere is this more true than on the world’s largest and most dynamic internet market, with over 460 million internet users, actively participating and spending more time on the web than anywhere else.

2011 promises to be an even more interesting year. Of course, China is a vast country, filled with a diversity of consumer behavior and experience – from international metropolis’ like Shanghai and Beijing, to tier 2 and 3 cities. But there are predications we can safely make, based on our understanding of China’s fascinating digital communications landscapes.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson Marsteller Asia-Pacific

Burson-Marsteller China – Digital Communications Trends in 2011 China Report

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Greater China

Burson-Marsteller China – Everyday Digital Life

Burson-Marsteller China – Groupon USA… welcome to China!

Groupon’s now infamous TVC during the Super Bowl, for which it paid out many millions to produce and air, majorly backfired on its Chinese business prospects. After watching the story unfold, my own take is that, essentially, Groupon didn’t take into account two key facts about the changed world that we live in.

First, that media content transcends format and borders. When a company runs a TV commercial in the US, that commercial does not live just on TV inside the US and the message does not only reach the intended audience in that media market. Content, especially high-profile Super Bowl commercials, is immediately transferred to different formats – video sharing sites, entertainment blogs, mobile phones, social networks, and links to it are shared on microblogs like Twitter – broadcasting messages to viewers around the world with different worldviews and cultural sensitivities.

Second, that messages that work in one market may not work as well in others. So, it’s all well and good for a company to design messaging for a certain target audience in a certain market. But, in the real, dynamic world of the Social Web, messages have the potential to cross state and international lines in a flash, be received by different groups and impact a company’s reputation. As such, Groupon’s Tibet commercial, which commented on Tibetan culture and celebrity activism, was received very differently by audiences in China than by its intended audience in the US.

Culturally insensitive content aside, Groupon is really guilty of failing to understand these changes in the worldwide Social Web. Multinational companies with operations in China, or those hoping to expand in China, can learn from this example. The time has come for many brands to fundamentally redefine the way they think about “local” communications, creative marketing and brand storytelling. Needless to say, it’s ironic that these oversights came from a Social Web company looking to expand worldwide.

The fallout from this commercial is particularly damaging for a company that has so intently set its eyes on the immensely lucrative Chinese marketplace. Groupon has invested millions of dollars into its China market entry strategy in 2011 and recently announced plans to hire as many as 1,000 employees in China this year.

After the spot went viral on the Social Web, Groupon’s CEO took to their corporate blog to explain the rationale behind its Super Bowl advertisements and to make clear that they did not mean to offend anybody. Then, following five days of criticism from both sides of the Pacific, Groupon announced that it would no longer run the controversial ads and replace them with “something less polarizing”. Some damage control was accomplished by the apologetic blog posts, but whether this was enough damage control to salvage its business prospects in China remains to be seen.

With its technology and funding well in place, Groupon’s fate in China will lie in the strengths of its partnerships. Partnering with Tencent or another Internet major in China is obviously a great move to help gain market access to China’s exploding social commerce sector. Groupon also needs to engage a strategic communications consultancy as a partner – not only as a firefighter in times of crisis – to help build trust among government regulators and engage Chinese consumers in a meaningful way both online and offline.

Once strong partnerships are in place, perhaps Groupon’s principle goal should be to ensure that it remains on the right side of China’s Internet industry regulators. The best way to do this might be by keeping a low profile until it really has something to tell the world about: social shopping deals that roundly beat the socks off its competitors.

 

March_2011_-_Campaign_Asia_Magazine_-_Groupon_in_China_-_Zaheer_Nooruddin.pdf
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- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist at Burson-Marsteller Greater China.

Burson-Marsteller China: Zaheer Nooruddin to Share Insights on Digital PR Measurement at Social Media & PR Conference

 

If you’re in Hong Kong this week, check out Burson-Marsteller Digital’s very own Zaheer Nooruddin, Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China, who will be sharing his insights on PR measurement at the Social Media & PR Conference on Friday, March 4^th. Zaheer‘s talk on Linking Metrics with Objectives to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Social Media PR Strategies will focus on China-specific tools and cover the following subjects:

· Measurement from the outset – How to develop and track measurable objectives

· PR measurement myths – What is ROI? Considerations and pitfalls to avoid

· Social media analytics – Applying both basic and advanced tools to measure your campaign’s effectiveness

· Incorporating social media metrics into marketing communications

· Case study: Pulling it all together and arriving at the right solution

For more about the conference, check out its website.

 

If you are unable to attend, you can follow the conference on Twitter via #SMPR

Or through Zaheer’s Twitter feeds: @BMDigitalChina and @zooruddin.

Burson-Marsteller China Digital Analysis – Global Social Media Study

Of the 18 companies surveyed from the Asia-Pacific as part of Burson-Marsteller’s Second Annual Global Social Media Study, this year five are from China. It is interesting to note that all five companies are state-owned organizations; with no private enterprise thus far represented in the steady expansion of China’s national presence within the Global 100 list.

Of these five companies, just one has established a blog – and this too, not a corporate blog, but a blog around R&D. This indicates that, although there is slight momentum towards blogging by large state-owned businesses in China, corporate blogging as a practice has yet to come close to any sort of ‘tipping point’ in terms of even the most minimal traction for larger enterprises.

The use of video as a means of communications and marketing is even rarer. Not a single one of the Chinese companies listed have adopted a video sharing channel within social media.

On the flip side, a trend that has been catching on like wild-fire in 2010’s Chinese social media landscape and business practice around it, is micro-blogging. Mostly fueled by Sina Weibo (Sina, one of China’s largest and most popular web ecosystems – a veritable Yahoo!, but without any visible problems of vision or stagnation), many companies have been quick to adopt a micro-blog account on here to communicate as a potent tool of Public, Corporate and Consumer affairs rolled into one. After the initial fits and starts due to China’s ambiguous regulations around micro-blogger platforms, some 50 million Chinese have enthusiastically adopted micro-blogging on Sina, thanks in part to the Chinese government’s acceptance of this micro-blogging service. This figure is projected to rise to as high as 150 million by the end of 2011. Although at the time of the research less than half of the Chinese companies listed have Weibo accounts, it’s a safe bet that by the end of this year we can expect that number to increase.

The use of social networking for business in China – for large companies – is yet to catch on. This is quite certainly due to the mismatch between the user base of China’s most popular Facebook-like social network, Renren, and the more immediate communications and marketing objectives of state-owned companies.

Overall, it should be noted that in China’s vast and explosive Social Media landscape, most companies in China, including those listed in this year’s Fortune Global 100, are still encumbered by inferior strategic planning around social media activation, the lack of any sustained interest either within these organizations or between themselves and their digital communications and marketing partners, and a preoccupation around the mastery of other still-more established and traditional media, marketing and communications channels.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia Pacific

Burson-Marsteller China – Asian MNCs Now More Likely to Directly Engage Users on Social Networks

Burson-Marsteller China at Social Media Week Hong Kong

Join Burson-Marsteller’s Greater China Lead Digital Strategist Zaheer Nooruddin at the Social Media Week Hong Kong [tweet #SMWHK] tomorrow, Friday, the 11th of February 8AM, at Pure Bar in Central, Hong Kong, for a lively discussion about All Things Social and what it can meanto your career and business.

Or watch the live-stream here. http://www.livestream.com/smw_hongkong1

Burson-Marsteller China – Because customers are digital

Burson-Marsteller China – Looking at microblogging in China

A good report was published recently in the Wall Street Journal online’s China Real Time Report, about how government authorities and agencies in China – of varying influence and nature – have embraced Sina’s Weibo microblogging service. Weibo, as all China net watchers know, is a service that has caught on like wildfire in 2010, with over 50 million users by October, and a projected 150 million expected to join up by the end of 2011.

Sanctioned as the “de facto” microblogging service in China (China’s Twitter, if you will) by the powers-that-be, and provided with all the necessary licenses to operate and take-off commercially in a big way, Sina’s weibo, with its unique features and characteristics, has caught the imagination of China’s youth segment. The service is used to socialize, meet people, as a dating channel, and for more serious pastimes as well, like spreading information about issues that are important to the Chinese people at large.

Companies and private enterprises too have been quick to catch on the trend, and many have already adopted Weibo presences, to communicate in real-time with their audiences, and sometimes, even to engage.

Interestingly, many international personalities and celebrities that are bent on influencing the Chinese public at large, such as Bill Gates (we all know who he is), Rio Ferdinand (the Manchester United/ England team footballer) and Sora Aoi (the Japanese AV star), have also adopted Sina Weibo accounts of their own. Some celebrities are better at engaging with their fans than others – as is the case with Aoi, who has more than a million Chinese fans following her tweets. Aoi famously tweets on her own, responding to fans individually sometimes – making everyone involved very happy.

Which brings us to Chinese authorities – who, not too long ago, were absolutely petrified of microblogging as a medium that could potentially be used by activists and dissidents to spread their messages around protest and societal injustice in real-time, and as a tool to organize and rally the public around anti-government issues in an insidious attempt to de-stablize the Harmonious Society. The reaction to microblogging then (circa 2009) was to rapidly and in quick succession, pull the plug on a slew of 1st generation home-grown Chinese microblogging services. These included QQ’s Tao Tao, Fanfou, Jiwai and others.

While some of these platforms re-emerged in various manifestations, none managed to pick up steam and become as “mass” as Sina Weibo has. Not even China’s Sohu, a massive web ecosystem, like Sina, has managed to replicate the success of Sina. Sohu’s flagging microblog service is almost never in the news, while Sina’s Weibo is almost never out of the news these days.

Getting the “nod” from the Chinese government that, at some point early last year realized that it was impossible to repress the urge of their young, active netizens to microblog – a cheap and easy pastime, with a very low threshold of commitment to it – unlike blogging – has proven huge for Sina’s weibo microblogging service.

China’s massive Tencent web ecosystem has received a similar green light from the authorities and its own Weibo is performing very well too from the looks of it.

The chance to communicate and engage via byte-sized messaging widely – as opposed to social networks platforms in which influence is restricted to just one’s known Friend’s circle, has made microblogging a new, favorite pasttime among the teens and early twenties demographic set. Interestingly, more females use Sina weibo microblogging than males.

The authorities have taken on a decidedly “let’s join them” approach with Sina weibo; thousands of microblogging accounts have been created to monitor the goings on of Weibo’s rapidly expanding userbase. This, coupled with Sina’s government-enforced monitoring and reporting system around sensitive keywords and issues, keeps Sina’s weibo and other microblogging platforms managable for the government in China.

Sina’s weibo microblogging platform seems to have accomplished what many other similar microblogging services failed to do. To capture the imagination of Chinese netizens, companies, media, and the authorities. The sky is the limit for Sina weibo.

Another China microblogging service, of the many unfavored, that didn’t quite make the grade: Twitter.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – The incredible surge of the Chinese internet

The Next Web released an interesting infographic recently on the surge of the Chinese internet over the current largest, English.

In terms of sheer size, not much can compete with China’s 440 million strong internet population (and growing by an estimated further 3 million each month – that’s 36 million each year).

Have a look -

Projections show that at this rate of growth, the Chinese internet is set to overtake the English internet, in terms of number of users, by 2015 or so.

The current size difference, according to this research, is 91 million users. That might sound like a huge differential at the face of it, but when one considers that a 30-odd million user growth trend for the Chinese internet means that this number can be covered in a mere 3 or 4 years’ time.

This, of course, does not take into consideration the continued expansion of the English internet itself, and for example, what is poised to happen in India with its own currently relatively small internet numbers – currently at around 70 million users: just a fraction of its massive aspiring Middle Class – but poised to exponentially grow over the next 5 to 10 years as well. A large portion of the Indian internet audience can be categorized as ‘English’ users in terms of online content consumption.

The growth of India’s numbers would therefore keep increasing English internet readership at a fast clip as well, thereby postponing the ascent of the Chinese internet to the world’s number 1 position in terms of sheer viewership.

Interesting nonetheless.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – Multi-polar Digital Communications Presence for Business

In 2011, the internet will be a key driver in managing corporate reputation and brand sentiment in China. With over 420 million Chinese citizens online in 2010, using the internet for a staggering average of almost 5 hours per day, China is by far the largest and most dynamically active internet market in the world. These numbers are only set to grow – with over 750 million of China’s population projected to be online by as soon as 2015.

Credible online market research shows that consumers seek information about brands and products and regularly read reviews by other customers and from online news sources and bloggers before they decide which brand or product to purchase or recommend. Research also tell us that the search for information and consumption of a variety of online and social media sources – news and conversational – by consumers directly influences corporate and brand reputation, purchase intent and, ultimately, sales.

Since the internet plays an important role in shaping a company’s reputation – for better or for worse – then, having a structured ‘multi-polar’ presence online is critical to how corporate and brand reputations are managed. At no time has this been truer than with the ascendency of social media as an important medium within an integrated public relations, communications and marketing engagement strategy.

Of course, adopting multi-polar visibility and reaping the reputational benefits that come with it also means doing the diligence and planning around how to manage the flare-up of potential issues. This preparedness is essential for companies and it should be undertaken before they move towards multi-polar presences. The potential risk that expanded exposure can bring to a company is greatest to an organization that is ill-prepared to manage it.

In China, we are seeing businesses and institutions increasingly activating their online presences beyond their corporate domains. They do this to (1) attract, (2) engage and (3) influence their stakeholder audiences towards more favorable sentiment around their brands, products and services. Going wider and deeper with branded and issues-related content also means better search results – in the engines where their audiences spend time online and increasingly search for information. As companies recognize this, we can expect to see greater engagement within select social media channels to strategically influence closed search rankings.

With these trends now broadly accepted as de facto in the marketing-communications industry as we steam into the New Year businesses must plan to action a mix of strategic digital communications, online and social media engagement and an online intelligence strategy. This can go a long way to ensuring their Share of Voice among stakeholders is maximized, and that accurate and compelling content about their brands, issues and products is readily accessible, in real-time, to those who matter most to the success of their business.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – Hong Kong’s corporate social media scene 2010 – an overview

Most companies in Hong Kong are still in the early stages of assessing how to apply social media to their businesses. The most popular approach for Hong Kong-based companies has been to set up a presence on Facebook, which has very high local reach. Facebook is much the most popular destination on the Internet in Hong Kong” with an almost 8% share of web traffic.

International companies have been the most enthusiastic users of social media, a good example being Cathay Pacific Airways, which in Hong Kong and globally, uses Facebook pages, Twitter and other social media platforms such as video and photo sharing channels to communicate with its corporate stakeholders and its consumers, to handle general customer enquiries and to drive recruitment.

However, it is not just international companies that are adopting Facebook and other channels. For example, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has set up camps both on Facebook and Twitter to share corporate news and information with journalists, bloggers, customers and railway enthusiasts, including updates on its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and programs.

While Facebook and, to a lesser extent Twitter, are starting to occupy corporate minds, corporate blogging is almost non-existent in Hong Kong among the companies surveyed. In addition to concerns about the lack of internal capabilities, corporations may also find it easier to be “represented” online as an entity, rather than by individuals within a company.

While Internet users prefer to click on videos and images on the Internet, rather than pure text, video sharing channels have yet to be embraced in Hong Kong, other than for consumer and product marketing purposes. This may be due to the relatively small amount of externally-sharable video content available, or that video sharing is seen to be only of interest to consumers.

The relatively large number of inactive social network pages suggest that that many Hong Kong companies have yet to decide how best to sustain their social communications and engagement strategies beyond the relatively simple and straight-forward first step of channel creation.

While Cathay Pacific and MTR are both proactively encouraging users to share experiences in the form of videos, photos and posts, most of the companies surveyed are primarily using social media to “push” corporate-related information, much of it text-based, and have not reached the stage of activating audience engagement and through building online communities of stakeholders through social media channels.

Going forward, Hong Kong’s companies should use social media to bring to life their brands and make them truly engaging for their audiences. They can also establish real dialogue between their brands, stakeholders and customers.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – Mobile in China: Massive Smartphone sales prompt digital revolution

With Ericsson predicting 800 million smartphone users in China by 2015, the country is set for an applications revolution on an unparalleled scale. In the first of a two-part video series, we look at what the future applications market could hold for China and around the world.

The future scale of mobile applications is put into perspective by Zaheer Nooruddin, Director and Lead Ditigal Strategist for Greater China for Burson-Marsteller.  Despite prediction by Chetan Sharma Consulting that there will  be 50 billion applciations by 2012, Nooruddin sayd the global apps market is still in its infancy.   

With mobile gaming and entertainment applications already the most popular apps in China, Nooruddin sees a lot of scope for the development of mobile social gaming.

Technology and media author and consultant Tomi T Ahonen says the falling price of smartphones – which he predicts could be as little as USD 10 by 2020 – and faster mobile networks will make applications truly globally available and accessible. He says this will be boosted by all major internet, computing and media companies planning for a “mobile” future.

Industry analysts at Juniper Research predict the applications market will be worth USD 25 billion by 2014.

Operators are also working towards an applications future. Christopher Lau, Director of Future Services at Hong Kong operator SmarTone-Vodafone, says applications are about much more than just having an app store.

Watch Part One of the video series now.

(Original post at Ericsson.com on Nov 26, 2010 can be found here)

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – China and the corporate use of social media in 2010

Chinese consumers have taken to the Internet, and continue to do so, in unprecedented numbers. They are using the social web as a core tool for information-gathering, decision-making and, increasingly, as a channel to compare prices and buy goods and services. Use of social media has spiralled as users look to social networks, video channels, online forums and other social platforms for word of mouth recommendations.

As has been noted, while the Internet and social media do not yet have the reach of some traditional media, notably TV, Chinese consumers rate Internet-based advertising and information as more credible than TV. Two trends emerge from the study. First, many companies rushed to set up their social media presences in 2007 and 2008, but roughly half of those destinations have since turned inactive.

The second trend is that active blogs and microblogs are increasingly used for what might be termed ‘casual’ communications, in addition to more formal marketing and public relations campaigns. This indicates that Chinese companies are still experimenting with these platforms, and are grappling to find their own social media strategies – often ones that are quite different from those adopted in the west.

Of the many social media tools available, microblogs and corporate blogs are the most often used in China. Mainland companies have been relatively quick to adopt and experiment with corporate blogging, integrating them as part of an organization’s corporate web environment (its corporate website) or, increasingly, as a stand-alone blog on a third party blogging service platform.

The recent surge in popularity of microblogs has led many companies to experiment with these channels. For example, Ctrip, a highly discussed brand in the Chinese social web, is using a microblog hosted on top web portal Sina.com to update its stakeholders on corporate news and promote special offers.

A major upside for microblogging in Chinese is that with the same 140 character limit you can write 70-90 words in Chinese, versus an average of 15 words in English. That’s a 6 fold benefit when writing in Chinese.

The surveyed companies represent some of the largest industrial and investment companies in Mainland China. Many are state-owned enterprises, and tend to be conservative in nature, which may explain why their use of social media is not well developed.

Another issue to keep in mind is that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are blocked in mainland China. Accordingly, global campaigns built for those platforms must be re-strategized, translated into Chinese and re-posted or re-created on China’s dominant social media platforms. China’s social media platforms are conceptually similar to major international ones, but each platform has its own unique qualities and dynamics.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – The Power of Social Media for B2B

The power of social media is obvious when it comes to consumer brands, but what about business-to-business (B2B) companies? It might surprise you to find that a March 2010 study found more B2B companies (86%) use social media than B2C companies (82%). The catch? Only 36% of B2B companies are active daily, compared to more than half of B2C companies. Social media can perfectly fit the marketing needs of B2B businesses, but execution can be daunting, especially in China.   

Burson-Marsteller China understands B2B companies’ hesitation to dive into the world of Kaixin and Sina Weibo, and is excited to announce a social media workshop specifically for business-to-business (B2B) companies.

The full-day course will map China’s social media landscape, explain how other B2B players effectively use social media, and identify latest trends and best practices from China and around the world. Zaheer Nooruddin, Burson-Marsteller Greater China’s lead digital strategist, will host the session, fielding questions and helping participants navigate the sometimes overwhelming world of social media PR and marketing.

So please join us on December 17, 2010 at Burson-Marsteller’s Beijing offices.

To sign up, please contact Cloey Yin- cloey.yin@bm.com or 10-5816-2574.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – The Digital Search Visibility Imperative

I recently reviewed a B2B company’s Online Presence to see how it could be optimized for greater Visibility in Online Search. In doing so I gathered a few insights that I’d like to share.

Developments in search engine technology have made content across the web more accessible to search engines. Put simply: a businesses’ content online will be indexed by search engines. The challenge is two-fold: (1) to optimize a business’ search visibility, since there is an incredible amount of “similar” content available online and (2) to get the “right” content indexed.

Here are some points to consider:

Executive Search

It’s often the case that consumers form opinions about a company based on the information available online about its people. One of the ways a company can optimize searches around its CEO and executives is to establish and activate blogging as a corporate practice. There is nothing like real-time content, in everyday language, produced in blogs and linked out into the social and corporate web to optimize a company’s search visibility. This can help to build a company’s reputation. This is a key reason to why executives around the world have taken to blogging – either within the corporate website or on third party blogging platforms.

Understand your Search Category

Search is a battle of keywords (and of images and dynamic content “tagged” by keywords). Some keyword categories are fiercely competitive. Many businesses associate their products, services and solutions with similar keywords, making their industry segments extremely crowded within the online search arena. The more differentiated a businesses’ keywords are, the better that businesses’ chance of appearing near the top of a crowded industry’s search rankings.

Social Search

Increasingly, search takes place outside of the “Corporate Domain” – or the “Openly Indexed Web” – that is, beyond Baidu, Google or Bing – the “established, mainstream” engines of search. It takes place also within “Closed Domains”, such as Private Forums and Social Networks. This represents a profound evolution in not just how, but where people search for information online. People search for content within the communities they belong to. This could mean a search about your business happens within a social network platform like Renren (in China) or Facebook (elsewhere)… or on any of the other social platforms with their own search engines that exist today.

It’s challenging for a business to seed its content throughout the social web – a vast space. A good start is to monitor and identify the most relevant spaces where one’s audience is. With search visibility, a staged approach is better – start from inside a business’ own web assets and build out gradually and systematically.

Optimized Design

If a website is a content-rich environment, built on text, it creates a good foundation for search optimization. I have conducted various searches on Google and Baidu for companies that have their content in text-heavy corporate sites, and they readily pop up at the top of search results. Of course, the challenge remains how to balance text with visual, multi-media content – words with images – so that the Presence you create is not just search-optimized, but also has an appealing design.

Think Languages

Thanks to the web, communications is international. Particularly for multinational organizations, search takes place in various languages. For example, if a customer in Russia is interested in a product that a company provides to the Russian market, that customer will search for it within “the Russian web”, in a Russian-language-enabled Search Engine. Companies entering new markets must realize the importance of localized search strategy and content to successfully create impactful visibility online.

People value and therefore seek the opinions of other people that they know and trust. Search for information and opinion happens within conversations. Social Search has started to take precedence over Standard Search.

This is why, when we counsel clients on Digital @ Burson-Marsteller, we encourage them to develop a “Framework of Online Presence.”

To be truly effective, a company’s strategic social media presence must be back-linked back to its corporate web presence, creating what I like call a “Search Optimized Web Presence” that ties together both the “Open web” and the “Closed web”.

- Zaheer Nooruddin is Director and Lead Digital Strategist for Greater China at Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Burson-Marsteller China – Digital Activity Based Audience Segmentation