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Digital Marketing Kicks My Ass

02/28/2014 By Jayme Soulati

No one said life was easy, and if it were we’d be at the beach partying all day. But, you’re not, nor am I, and that’s why you haven’t seen me here in awhile.

I’ve been in a rut as digital marketing has been kicking my ass, and it’s doing it so royally I had to put that A-S-S word in the headline. BTW, is A-S-S even a cuss word any more? I know no five-year-olds are reading this blog, so maybe I’m safe.

Meanwhile…

How do you feel when completely out of your element? Here are a few emotions I can share from first-hand experience – humility, humbleness, embarrassment, frustration, annoyance, anger, fear, and tears. Then comes the resignation that all these emotions are purely obstacles to success.

Indeed.

We (that means I) are our own worst enemies. If anyone is somewhat of a perfectionist (gulp, I’ve never admitted that even partially to anyone and I know it’s not true) who likes to be in control because that’s a true comfort zone, then things we don’t know are addressed with obstacles.

And, so, I found out right quick I don’t do digital marketing and to overcome my fear of it, I would just toss bricks in my way. I did, I am, I was.

I recently hired an expert to help me elevate my business to a new level. I had hit a brick wall on my own trying to grow my business online.

In the past I’ve worked with some really good people, but everyone reaches a point in their knowledge where there’s a deficiency; I had hit mine.

Digital Marketing Struggles

Digital marketing is a tough nut. Who are the people doing it well and making money at it?

It requires huge analytic thinking oriented to testing, sorting, list building (gah, my least favorite thing of all) and development of landing pages with calls to action and the software platforms to make it all work.

How copy is written is so different than a blog post and it requires short and punchy quip that entices but doesn’t sell.

Digital marketing is not for the feint of heart. You need to be trained as an expert to master it and you have to live it every day to know what the heck.

Here’s what happened:

My fear of failure put me in a deep, dark hole. I was unable to write like I was supposed to. I did not want to be judged. I did not like to be edited. The style of writing was foreign to me.

I wrote and it stunk.

I was edited brutally and hated it.

I wrote again and it stunk more.

More brutality and people totally rewriting my work.

I ignored everyone.

I tossed bricks in my way and cried about it. I whined some more.

Then I took a deep breath and finally wrote again.

It flowed and was acceptable to my utter shock and amazeballs.

The brutal editors and experts said they loved it, high five. (I secretly didn’t believe them.)

I wanted to quit, fire everyone and walk away from the challenge; exactly like I feel in Taekwondo every Tuesday and Thursday.

It’s a slow boat to China, and no one reaches it in a day. Yeah, Jayme, so get on a plane.

About Weibo: Understanding Chinese Social Media

12/10/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Few social media users have reason to care what Sina Weibo is; however, if they work for a multi-national company, it’s guaranteed that company is all over Weibo, and for good reason!

Weibo is the Chinese microblogging service with more than 505 million users launched in August 2009 for people who speak, read and write Mandarin and Cantonese. Daily active users number 54 million, says The Wall Street Journal. The site also caters to users from Hong Kong and Taiwan. To describe it further, it’s a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter with a 30 percent penetration rate in the country.

Sina (NASDAQ: SINA), which means new wave in Chinese, is the publicly traded online media company that created Weibo in China. Its site registers 100 million users, while its Sina Weibo has 56 percent of the Chinese microblogging market. What’s also appealing is that the top 100 users of Sina Weibo have 180 million followers combined.

Guess what else we can rely on trusty Wikipedia to inform us? There are about 100 million messages posted each day on Weibo. Sina is developing an English platform now and put a test up in January 2013; however, pulled it down after one week. Users have to be Chinese citizens to register on the platform.
Competition

Sina Weibo has enjoyed three years of un-rivaled monopoly on Chinese social media channels. Recently, however, Tencent Holdings is gaining with its “WeChat mobile app similar to WhatsApp and Line that allows users to post status updates, share photos and even strike up quick romantic encounters,” according to the Nov. 11, 2013 Wall Street Journal, “A Glimpse Into China’s Social Media.”

In the Wall Street Journal story written a day before third-quarter earnings Nov. 13, 2013, it was predicted by investors that Sina would lose some ground to Tencent. Upon checking status of the investor reports; however, Sina proved everyone wrong with an 11.38 percent boost while Tencent lost ground by 4 percent. Tencent boasts 236 million monthly active users, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Similar to support by Sina Weibo for the Chinese soccer team to play against Villarreal CF, Tencent has put $200 million to work for an advertising campaign with a single FC Barcelona soccer player, Lionel Messi, to advertise WeChat outside China.

Features of Weibo

If a user familiar with Twitter were to adopt Weibo, they’d find many feature similarities:
• 140 characters
• @ sign for the ID
• RT for retweet
• Hashtags to track trending topics
• Url shortener t.cn
• Newsfeed

Other features allow users to post emoticons, video and images with every post, repeat some or all of the comment, add favorites, verify whether the account is a celebrity or a poseur, and see the thread of the post immediately in the stream.

Registration

Since China is the fastest-growing economy in the world, you can imagine why global consumer products companies are drooling over how to reach the affluent Chinese market.

Prior, you had to be a resident of China to use Weibo. Now, all you need is a Facebook account to register if you’re outside mainland China. Multi-national businesses should regard this as good news because who isn’t seeking entrée into China for consumer products?

When a global consumer products company registers on Weibo, their account will be symbolized by a blue V badge indicating verification of an enterprise account.

Like Twitter and Facebook, there are bots and anonymous people who set up accounts to post content that is typically negative, controversial or anti-establishment. The significance of the blue V on an enterprise Weibo account is important for users to verify which account is authentic.

There are many people who want to post content on Weibo as Gucci, for example. If a user gets three posts from “Gucci,” they can easily discern which one is authentic by the blue V.

Users Can Authenticate on Weibo

Just like brands and businesses, users who actively engage on Weibo get to post a badge on their Weibo personal profile page. These badges are called active engagement badges and help position users who are high-level engagers. The badges for users dictate the frequency an account is in use. The badges are scaled via an LV number or level number. If you were to view LV3 on a user’s profile page, that indicates low-level activity; however, LV 7 is indicative of an active user.

Fashionbi Analysis of Weibo

Fashionbi is a world leader in fashion business intelligence via analysis of social media engagement among the world’s most well-known fashion brands and companies.

Part of its analysis includes activity on Sina Weibo both from the brand and user perspectives. Fashionbi looks at a variety of social media engagement factors to determine where users are most active. It estimates nearly 15 percent of the fashion brands it tracks are using Weibo.

In its analysis of Weibo user engagement activity for fashion brands, Fashionbi found that 50 percent of Weibo users who engage with fashion brands are accessing the social media channel via mobile devices. In particular, Coach gets 35 percent engagement on Weibo from a mobile device with an additional 28 percent of activity documented from an iPhone or Android device.

Mobile Advertising in China

Although Weibo users seem to have a penchant for mobile advertising, Sina needs to exercise caution about how many ads it places on Weibo. This is unmarked territory for all social media companies in China, and the hunger by the Chinese for what’s new in consumer products is dictating the speed with which companies are launching advertising campaigns. Consumers could tire of the prolific mobile ads interrupting streams; that threshold has yet to be met, however.

In China, unlike the United States, social media consumers seek mobile advertising to influence a buy decision. In a blog post about Tech In Asia, a recent study by RenRen showed 53 percent of Chinese who use mobile devices said a buy decision was influenced by a mobile advertisement while 76 percent said they have made a purchase using a mobile device.

Fashionbi suggests WeChat is the channel to watch for further mobile advertising proliferation as Chinese tourists use the app all the time. Luxury brands have an opportunity to meet vacationers when they have money to spend and time to shop.

Alibaba And Laiwang

Alibaba, the Amazon-like online marketplace serving China, is heavily aligned with Weibo. A partnership deal was struck earlier this year with Alibaba Group Holding and Sina Weibo that will generate $380 million in advertising for Sina over three years, states the Wall Street Journal. Brands selling items on Alibaba are also doing the same via Weibo with great luck. Coach, for example, has an online store on its Weibo brand page which is an appealing and simplified way for the billion consumers in China to engage and buy.

Alibaba is cash rich, and in response to concerns it has lacked in popular apps, it boosted efforts to create a new messaging app, Laiwang.

Founder Jack Ma is banking on employees to keep Alibaba growing. Look at these marketing initiatives the company has launched to grow:

• He sent a letter to the company’s 20,000 employees saying they had to add 100 friends on Laiwang or they will not get a bonus.
• The company is also using model appeal to lure new users to Laiwang. There are 30,000 young female models who will chat any time with new users on Laiwang.

There’s one thing Western nations can be sure of. The Chinese consumer is eager and hungry to more, and companies the likes of Sina, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba are providing the food via major investment in mobile apps, mobile advertising, sponsorships, promotions, e-commerce, and social media channel usability.

Would you like a piece of the pie?

This post first appeared on Steamfeed.com authored by Jayme Soulati.

Yum Brands Bad Publicity in China, Or Is It?

01/09/2013 By Jayme Soulati

YumBrands The headline on the cover of the Marketplace section of this morning’s Wall Street Journal caught the eye, “Bad Publicity Dents Yum Brands.” Woah. Must be really bad for the other side to add that key word, “publicity,” in a call out.

Jumping into the story, I got 2/3 through still seeking any mention or indication of bad PR. The story is about how the brand and its KFC stores continues to bounce back after a government review of China poultry supplies, the outbreak of SARS, and a dye potentially linked to increase cancer risk.

What the Chinese consumer is being extra cautious about, however, is whether KFC poultry is tainted with more antibiotics than what’s permitted. Food safety, in the wake of tainted milk issues that plagued the country, has become a top-of-mind issue.

The headline on top of the story says, “China Woes Put Dent in Yum Brands.”

Uh-huh.

That’s more like it, copy desk. The call out header on the section cover implied that Yum Brands was really messing up in China with negative media coverage – after all, isn’t publicity defined by news coverage?

The story didn’t read that way at all. It told about a brand suffering from the natural ebbs and flows of economic issues and stressors that affect any business playing in the food industry.

I think the headline writer wanted to dig at we in public relations and earn a few more readers by using “publicity,” a rare word in a headline for a global daily newspaper the likes of the Wall Street Journal.

China Gets Expensive; Can U.S. Manufacturing Benefit?

10/07/2011 By Jayme Soulati

I predicted here in a musings post that manufacturing would return to U.S. shores from China. I anticipated that wages would increase there, and the cost of manufacturing would steadily increase along with it. American companies seeking economies of scale in China would begin to ponder Made In America again albeit our manufacturing base has long eroded.

While I’m no economist or global manufacturing expert, and my prediction was merely my own based on observation, it seems it may be coming true a bit quicker than expected.

Today’s Wall Street Journal story, “Buck Up, America. China Is Getting Too Expensive,” tells about a U.S. furniture manufacturer who got the raw end of a stick when he manufactured in China only to be pushed aside by businessmen in China who decided to sell direct to the U.S. instead. The story also speaks about Bruce Cochrane a Lincolnton, NC furniture maker who is ramping up manufacturing back on home soil.

Many factors contribute to this and it would be great to hear from anyone expert in global arbitrage, currency, manufacturing, and trading. What are known factors today relate to the Chinese manipulating their currency to be more favorable to them in addition to soaring wages in China as the workers there get a taste of Western capitalism.

There are many implications for business owners who thought China the Holy Grail. What goes around comes around, right? We see that in fashion every 20 years or so; perhaps we’re going to begin to see it with consumer goods and industrial products, too.

Is America ready?

Monday Meanderings

08/29/2011 By Jayme Soulati

I need to get this gobbledy gook out of my gray matter and on to yours for insightful comments. So much to take in in this changing world in which we live (how’s that for four “ins” in one sentence?).

1. Florida recently passed a law that requires mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients. Would that be a liberal or conservative approach to ensuring taxpayer dollars are being put to appropriate use and that people getting aid from states are drug free? Who cares? In this country today (U.S.) everyone is labeled for their stance on one side of the aisle or another offshoot. Can we please begin being logical instead of political?

2. Prices are skyrocketing for durable goods and consumables. I’ve begun my own cost consciousness in the area of foodstuffs. I’m speaking with moms in the dairy section as I see them buying the store brand of yogurt, for example. When she tells me her kids snarf it up, I put back the more pricey Dannon and Yoplait brands and opt for the Kroger brand. I’ve already made the switch to Kroger bagels — six for $1.89 versus the Thomas or Sara Lee brands — 6 for $3.98. Really? My kid can eat Kroger bagels.

3. Warren Buffett recently bailed out (if that’s possible) Bank of America with a major cash infusion to the tune of $5 billion. Is he aware of something we’re not? Should investors flock to the big banks that are drowning in mortgage crises, etc., and buy their stock? What does Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, know as hit sits on top of the world with boatloads of cash?

4. My kidlet just put $100 cash into her savings account, and then I got the bank statement. She’s collecting .01 percent on that money. It’s not even worth it, but where else should her money be saved? Where should all of our savings be saved? It’s a terrible conundrum; I’ve decided to reduce debt rather than sock money into my portfolio this year. Let the market play with what it already has of mine, and I’ll be saving money by reducing the inexcusable finance charges on credit.

5. As China’s economy becomes more prosperous and its citizens become more oriented to material goods (and it’s happening), my opinion is that U.S. business will begin to pay more money to produce outsourced goods manufactured in China. When that happens, the economies of scale will not be as profitable. U.S. companies will want to manufacture again at home, but guess what? They can’t! Our manufacturing infrastructure is gone — outsourced and off shored. Can the U.S. ramp up again to be “made in America?”

6. Remember that blog post I wrote last week about buying a vacuum cleaner? I did a social media search for manufacturers of sweepers and could only find Miele USA, a German manufacturer, on Twitter. In the comments section, I “took heat” from two independent resellers in local markets, and one suggested I buy local and support family-owned businesses. Someone on Facebook also suggested that. So, I went to the local indie reseller in the hopes of buying that Miele brand I’d never heard of. Instead, I was sold a Riccar — a U.S.-manufactured top-of-the-line vacuum no one has ever heard of. There is no advertising, social media, or marketing campaign to push the Riccar brand. It’s strictly sold by independent retailers, and “the money is spent on the product.” The salesman told me he services Dyson the most (every day), and Miele is not as strong in quality as they used to be because they off-shored manufacturing.

7. In this week’s BusinessWeek (I know, it’s Bloomberg BusinessWeek), there is a graph “Graphing the Recession’s Impact” suggesting the “latest recession resulted in more lost jobs and output than any recession in the last 50 years…no other post-war recession has been as severe.” I’m not an economist, but can we please stop comparing the 2010 decade to 50 years ago, or even 10 years ago? We’re now in a global economy; no one has seen this type of teeter-tauter on the world stage ever — so, can we please start graphing this bunk based on today instead of yesterday?

8. Also in BusinessWeek this week, a frightening headline, “The Slow Disappearance of the American Working Man.” Apparently, only 81 percent of men ages 25-54-years-old held jobs in July 2011. Ouch. Could part of this slide be affected by #5 here?

9. And, lastly, we’ve seen the end of an era. I commend, applaud, admire, and wish peace upon Steve Jobs — the man who brought Apple into the limelight among the world’s consumers. Congratulations, Mr. Jobs; you are a revered and respected innovator. Thank you.

Whew…what musings are clogging up your brain cells? Please share and comment to any of the above!

(Image: MistyWisp.com)

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