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The future is scary for traditional media

There might be some optimism in the air that that global economy is improving and that we could be celebrating the upswing next year. However, the traditional media do not share the same optimism. The publishers might be putting a front, but the journalists themselves are not so certain how the improved economy would be beneficial to them. My recent lunch with a senior journalist and had conversations revolving around the economy and the journalist expressed concerned that traditional media will not benefit from the pending recovery. The concern was that when the economy recovered, it would be quite amazing if the vendor would be willing to spend ten of thousands in a full colour full page ad just for one issue.  But we all know that a successful ad campaign can only work over a series of issues rather than just one off. The senior journalist highlighted that with this amount of capital outlay, the vendor could just look at the digital alternative to get the job done. ...

Is corporate blogging passé?

Facebook Fan Page is the hottest trend today as almost everybody I know is looking at this medium to target their audience. However, as much as Fan Pages are hot these days, I feel it works better as a channel rather than a content platform. A channel similar to Twitter but the difference is that you can add video, photos, audio and interaction with your fans. But what about corporate blogging? Is it passé? I wouldn’t say corporate blogging is passé but the problem lies in getting the authors to blog. Some designated authors have a great start in putting up one post and the enthusiasm disappears after that one post. Talk about a one post wonder. Usually most of the designated authors will respond saying they have no time to blog. I don’t find this statement surprising. I don’t think time is the issue, it is the inertia to start that post is the biggest cause of the problem. I have thought of these problems and have some suggested solutions for them, but I would like to to...

“In personal recommendations we trust” says Singaporeans too

I recently blogged about the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey that showed personal recommendations were the most trusted globally . In a recent article at Marketing-Interactive on the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, Singaporeans have highlighted that they too trust personal recommendations the most. Wrote John Davidson of Marketing-Interactive , In Singapore the results were fairly similar, except that editorial such as newspaper articles was the second most trusted form of advertising (80%), after personal recommendations (93%). In comparison, newspapers were ranked 4th globally. I wonder if the print publishers and PR agencies caught this statement as this shows the importance of Singaporeans looking at newspapers as a trusted source. With personal recommendations still ranked as number one in Singapore, are the big brands here ready to take social marketing to the next steps?

In recommendations we trust

Nielsen recently released its Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of up to 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries and it was found that recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising. 1 up for social marketing/PR. Image from blog.nielsen.com. I am not surprised by the findings. More often, some friends would come to me and ask me to recommend which DSLR they should buy. I would usually tell them how I felt about a Nikon or Canon DSLR and the difference both cameras bring to the photo. A friend bought a Canon compact digital camera and it broke down a couple of times in less than year. She has been complaining of the brand since to her friends and this has resulted in their distrust for the brand. Recommendations have been the most trusted since the beginning of mankind. The cave drawings of mammoth was in a way recommendations made by hunter to another. The medium has, however, changed...