Sales, Social and Tech

See the video below? It is a video about a luxury car "Vending Machine" that was created by the team at SENATUS. This vending machine is so unique in Singapore that the YourSingapore Facebook Page, the official Facebook Page of Visit Singapore, decided to feature the same video on their Facebook Page with the possible intend of telling travelers to come and visit Singapore to see this luxury car "Vending Machine". However, YourSingapore Facebook Page admins didn't linked the video to Senatus, instead they decided to Freeboot the video into the Facebook Page, thus stealing views from Senatus. The credit was only given to Senatus after it was noted by Senatus and one prominent Singapore Blogger, Benjamin "Mr Myagi" Lee, of the Freebooting. As a result of this Freebooting, Senatus probably lost 41K views to YourSingapore. Benjamin also noted that his comment was hidden by YourSingapore but YourSingapore assured in a comment...

MOS Teo said he didn't post the following quote on Facebook- "I learnt that some workers prefer to sleep without a mattress as they are used to it back in their home country". The above quote that appeared with the photo in the Ministry of Manpower Facebook Page came under heavy criticism for being insensitive to the plight of migrant workers in Singapore. It created that much furore to have the story appear on  BBC website . The Ministry of Manpower has issued a statement that the post and the caption was put up by an unnamed Facebook admin. The question of many, especially the government ministry, must be asking how to approve a post before it goes "live" on the Page. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't allow this function for any of the roles assigned for the Facebook Page. You could put a post on draft and get the other key stakeholders to sign off in the comments, but once you publish the draft post, the comments can be seen. With this...

Started a Facebook Page? Singapore Courts had ruled that that Facebook Page does not belong to you and Facebook has full ownership of it. This issue was raised when Mr Lee Kien Meng, who owns Senatus , sued one of its previous clients, Mr Frank Cintamini, after Mr Cintami removed Senatus' administrator rights. Mr Cintamini removed Senatus after a fall out and suspecting the company of two hacking incidents. Wrote AsiaOne , He asked the court to declare him the owner and sole administrator of the two pages and to order Mr Cintamani to give up all rights to the pages to him. - See more at: http://digital.asiaone.com/digital/news/who-owns-facebook-page#sthash.xgx6V2uc.dpuf He asked the court to declare him the owner and sole administrator of the two pages and to order Mr Cintamani to give up all rights to the pages to him. Justice Chan Seng Onn on Tuesday upheld the lower court's decision, pointing out there are no terms in Facebook's service agreement which...

Facebook, yesterday, announced that promotions, aka contests, can now be executed on the Facebook Page using Page elements, for example the LIKE button. Prior to the announcement, you could only run promotions with a third party app and you are not allowed to use the Page elements. Some in-house social marketing managers lamented that this should have come earlier so that they can save a few hundred to thousand dollars on creating a app. However, if they were really marketing folks, a contest app would be a better option. 1. How are you going to administer 100s or more Likes or manage 50 photo entries? If you run a contest asking your Facebook audience to like a photo, or submit a photo via your Facebook Page, as a busy social marketing manager, how are you going to administer the contest especially if the numbers get very high? For example, if your photo get 100 likes, how are you going to sieve through these 100 likes? It gets even scarier if this number increase. Or if you...

(Update: I made a mistake. Channel U didn't ask for NRIC number. Just name as in NRIC. However, fans are also entering their NIRC. Still, Channel U is still clear violation of running such a contest on its Facebook Page.) Channel U, in clear violation of Facebook Page Guidelines on running contests on Facebook Pages, have openly asked fans to share their name as in NRIC and their email addresses on Channel U's Page. However fans are also entering their NRIC number. Source:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152104797152589&set=pb.152412172588.-2207520000.1375679756.&type=3&theater I don't see any point masking the details as these fans are gullible to share such details openly on the Page. Guess how many strangers now know your Facebook ID, NRIC number and full email address? Let's do the maths. Channel U currently have about 155K fans. By Facebook estimation of 20% only seeing the post, 30K strangers now know their IC number and email a...

When it comes to Facebook marketing, getting "Likes" has become a numbers game and you could easily get LIKES in a heartbeat via Facebook Advertising. The real challenge after the "Likes" is to engage these "Likes" on the Facebook Page.  Source:  https://www.facebook.com/business/engage One way to engage Fans is to  "Post at least 1 to 2 times per week" so that the brand stays top-of-mind and relevant to the people who liked your Page".  Facebook uses the metric "People Talking About This" to show the number of engaged Fans.  Wrote Mashable about the importance of " People Talking About This ",  People Talking About This is an important metric because it emphasizes interactions beyond an initial Facebook Like. Pages that create posts that fans enjoy will benefit. When people interact with pages in ways that generate stories, pages reach an audience beyond their existing fan base. Users benefit, too...

It’s easy to set up a Facebook Page, but how do you know it’s working for your business? One way is to use the page as a loyalty program “fan club” to increase sales from repeat customers. This is what restaurants in Singapore are beginning to do. For example, at Rock and Ash, close to 30% of revenue now comes from loyal customers, a big increase from 5% prior to the fan club. In order to generate such robust repeat business, the first step is to encourage a majority of customers to join the fan club and LIKE the Rock and Ash Facebook Page. This is achieved by offering a permanent discount to members, much like a loyalty card program. However, unlike traditional programs, it’s easier to grow the member base because fan clubs are social by design, connecting directly to the restaurant’s existing page on Facebook, and creating opportunities for word of mouth engagement with friends of customers. “Before launching the fan club, we got 200 fans in six months,” said...

Rocky's Pizza set up a Facebook Page but do not have anybody managing it. Even with no content and zero advertising, they generated 1,445 LIKES on their Facebook Page. The last update on Rocky's Pizza Facebook Page was on 2013 February 09.  In addition, about 73%, or 1,049, of this 1,445 LIKES were real customers who dined at the outlet at Sunset Way in Clementi. Customer conversion to LIKES is more valuable to any F&B brand then a LIKE generated from online who may not have stepped into the outlet.  Most F&B put up lots of content on their Facebook Page but growth on their Pages are usually slow. Those who look at advertising on Facebook Page do generate the LIKES but have no idea if these LIKES would be converted into a purchase at outlet, let alone stepping into the outlet.  What help Rocky's Pizza generate these huge number of LIKES? A single poster on each table top at Rocky's Pizza did the trick.  The poster above brought i...

Many F&B outlets I worked with have a Facebook Page first and website second. Go to any F&B outlet and you will see a poster that says Find Us On Facebook. However, finding us on Facebook is not as easy as it seems. The biggest problem is Facebook Search as it isn't as good as Google. Facebook Search, it seems, is based on the Page Name, not Vanity URL, and it matches the text accordingly. For example, if your Page Name is ABC Cafe and your customers search for ABCCafe, Facebook search will bring the customer to ABCCafe Facebook Page instead of ABC Cafe Facebook Page. I worked with a merchant who faced the same problem as above.  The merchant brand name as ABCShoes Pte Ltd but its Page Name was ABC Shoes. A customer actually found a ABCShoes Page and liked that page thinking it was from ABCShoes Pte Ltd. The customer was finding it weird that the content was different and highlighted it to the shop when she was there. Even the staff was confused with ABCShoes and ...

If you thought Parisians are rude, wait you read about the administrator of Les Deux Garcons Malaysia Facebook Page. A customer visited the Les Deux Garcons Malaysia shop but was disappointed in the services. So naturally, she turned to the shops' Facebook Page. This customer even made a suggestion to the shop to label their macarons for their service staff felt they did not have to answer queries from in shop customers. How did the Facebook administrator respond? Well.. this Facebook administrator to go to Paris and face the wrath of real Parisian as this customer has too much to complaint. The next step that came naturally for the administrator was to delete the pst. When this customer put in another post, the Facebook administrator replied "We have no time for bitches". You can catch the drama unfolding between the administrator and Fans here .  The management of Les Deux Garcons Malaysia has since apologi...

When Rock and Ash opened its doors at Marina Square Link (Singapore) in July 2010, the owner, Mr. Chua Koon Teck, was already looking for a customer membership program. His initial loyalty program was the traditional method which requires customers to fill out membership forms and carry cards. Only a handful of customers signed up. Then Chua discovered Taggo’s Fan Club solution, which makes it easy to use the restaurant’s existing Facebook Page as a loyalty program. Customers join by “liking” Rock and Ash and simply give their mobile number to the cashier whenever they pay. “Since launching our Fan Club in December 2011, I now have more than 1,000 registered members ,” said Chua. In addition to making it easier to sign up new loyalty program members, the Fan Club also dramatically increases fans on Facebook. “Prior to the launch of the Fan Club, it took me six months to get 200 likes and I thought it would take a few more years to reach a thousand fans. With ...

You can't avoid Facebook today. With over one billion users, finding somebody without a Facebook account is a rarity.  Lots of F&B establishments have already started on Facebook marketing. Some have found hits, other misses.  After dealing with F&B merchants on how to launch their Fan Clubs for their Facebook Page, I have found that there are still doubts about using Facebook as a marketing tools. As such, I am starting from the ground up. Intermediate and advance marketeers can skip these first few posts.  So why Facebook? 1. A medium which provides you with a captive audience When Facebook first launched Pages, they added a fan button where Facebook users become fans of your Page. They made a decision to change it to Likes but it is weird to call them likers.  So those who join the Page are still known as fans. These fans are your captive audience. Besides email, no other medium provide that online tool to give you a captive au...

Scotch-Brite Singapore has launched the Angry Wives Club app which hopes to advise wives on how to get husbands to do their houseworks without getting angry. The app is differentiated into three sections. The first section helps wife to identify what type of husbands they have and how to treat their husbands accordingly to get them to do house chores. The next section provides wives with tips on how to treat their husbands so that they get the household chores done. Keep nagging to the minimum is my favourite. Finally, what's an app without a contest.. The Scotch-Brite Singapore Angry Wives Facebook app can be found at  https://www.facebook.com/ScotchBriteSG/app_116837335150050 .

(Are you looking to launch Facebook Offers? Why not launch a Fan Club instead. Check out the differences between Facebook Offers and Fan Clubs at  http://socialpr.blogspot.sg/2012/11/facebook-offers-vs-fan-clubs.html ) We have been asked about the differences between Fan Clubs and Loyalty Punch Card Apps so we thought it would be great to share it in this post. Differences between Fan Clubs vs Loyalty Punch Card Apps Taggo's Fan Club solution is free for merchants. The service is built into the credit/debit card fees that merchants already pay. Merchants get more fans, more word of mouth advertising, and valuable CRM data, all free. Merchants simply fund the discounts or other promotions for their fans. Merchants keep full control of the customer relationship. Customers don't join Taggo. They become fan club members of the merchant's existing Facebook page. Major brands don't want to promote third party apps, so Taggo's model is better suited to their need...

Do your children like to do jigsaw puzzles? Jigsaw Puzzle World Fan Club members get a $5 voucher with every $50 spent when they pay with NETS. Join the Jigsaw Puzzle World Fan club at http://JoinFanClub.com/jpwsingapore , then give your mobile number to the cashier. Available at Plaza Singapura, Suntec, Marina Square, Causeway Point, IMM Building and Jurong Point.

Facebook Offers vs Fan Clubs Today, merchants not only want more customers, they also want more fans on their Facebook Page. And they hope that customers like their page, but hope is not a strategy or a tactic. Canz I have more Fanz Pleaze? In the process of acquiring merchants for Fan Clubs, I have gotten some questions about Facebook Offers and Fan Clubs which would be best answered below. Facebook Offers for everybody; Fan Club benefits for your fans only A Facebook user does not need to like your Facebook Page. All the user needs to do is accept your offer. The problem here is that there are no immediate returns on your offers. If you are lucky, you offer will be well claimed. If not, it will just be another ordinary wall post.  Registration for customers is only done once.  Customers see other Fan Clubs, they just click LIKE. On the other hand, for somebody to claim a Fan Club benefit, that Facebook user must first register their...

Nothing beats fire fighting on Facebook on a Monday morning for NTUC Membership had to deal with the fallout over a staff's alleged racist comments about Malay weddings held at void decks. Though the Facebook user has already made her Facebook Profile private, a screenshot was tagged to NTUC Membership Facebook Page from a fan. The tagged photo generated 5,616 likes, 2,063 comments and 278 shares as of the posting of this blog. Click on photo to see the rest of the comments. Comments on the photo range from calls to withdraw NTUC membership to questioning the absurdity of how a wedding, even for one held at a void deck can only cost SGD50. Cool heads have also called for refraining from "making nasty comments" about Amy Cheong's race but to focus on the above post it self. NTUC Membership has since made a status update about the remarks. Wrote NTUC Membership , "This matter is being investigated and we will have a report in due course. This is a s...

After an incident where a community manager for Singtel Facebook Page was verbally abused, Singtel has announced its Facebook House Rules to maintain order on the Page. Wrote Singtel As a host of this page, SingTel takes pride in keeping the conversations fair and decent for all. We have engaged a team of trained, empowered, and dedicated Customer Care service officers to provide assistance in queries on the Facebook page, working alongside our Community Managers.   Your comments are strongly encouraged and welcomed; be it positive or negative, and will not be deleted as long as the content does not breach the following points: Abusive, defamatory or obscene Violates copyright or intellectual property Condones or promotes illegal activity Fraudulent, deceptive or misleading Off-topic Sexual or offensive graphically or in tone Personal attacks, vulgarity, racism, or hateful in language targeting religion, gender, nationality, or political beliefs Deliberate disrupti...

The French... They take down everything.. Wrote Diner en Blanc Singapore , To afford the greatest number of participants, media, and page visitors, the opportunity to read this important message, we have temporarily disabled the Facebook page and are centralizing communications on our main website. We will reactivate it in the next few days as we continue to provide you with updated content and information to make Singapore's first Dîner en Blanc a success!