WordPress for small business is a match made in heaven. WordPress is a web publishing platform can provide small businesses a website solution that can manage blogs, portfolios and even corporate websites. It’s easy to use, it’s easily customisable through plugins and themes, and best of all, WordPress is free.

One of the best things about WordPress are its themes, which allow small business owners to change the look of their site with a single click. For more advanced customisations however, users would generally still require the services of a web designer.

Until now.

The Headway Premium WordPress Theme: a quantum leap

If WordPress empowered small businesses to publish web content, the Headway theme completes the picture by empowering users to also control the visual design of the site. Here are some of the reasons why I call it a quantum leap:

• Change the layout of a site arbitrarily by drag and drop, and see the changes take place in real time.
• Change the colours and fonts arbitrarily with mouse clicks. No pre-set colour palettes to choose from, everything is custom.
• Add new website elements and content blocks like featured content block, photo galleries and sidebars with a click of the mouse.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then hopefully the video above speaks a million (click here if you can’t see it). Watch as I take the default Headway style and customise it into a business website, complete with whizzy hero banners in – all in under 10 minutes.

In addition to the above, it’s also super search engine-friendly and has got a fast-growing community of fans and excellent documentation.

WordPress + Headway = killer small business website

I’m a small business owner myself, so I’m familiar with the challenges of juggling the 101 things to make sure my small business stays afloat. And from that perspective, here’s why I think why Headway makes WordPress even better for small business:

• It’s super quick.
  Small businesses generally have little time to build and manage their websites. Getting a web professional to design your website can take the task out of your hands, but you still have meetings, processes and reviews to go through before your site is launched. With Headway, you can get your site up in a day without having to deal with any third parties.
• It is good enough.
  Most small businesses don’t need a website that will win web design awards. Most just want a site that gets the job done and is friendly to search engines and increasingly, mobile devices. Unfortunately web designers want to ‘add value’ and propose something that’s totally out there and busts your budget. Headway will help balance your website features with exactly what you need.
• One theme, many styles
  Unlike other WordPress themes which give you one style, Headway is completely customisable. Invest in this one theme and you may never need another WordPress theme.
• You own the keys to the house.
  For small businesses who do outsource their websites completely, it may be difficult to update the site or can only be updated by the designer. It gets worse if the web designer shuts down his business and you’re stuck with a site that you have no access to.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting down the role of web designers. It’s just been my experience that most small businesses underestimate the commitment they need to see through a successful website project.

Who should buy Headway?

If you’re already familiar with WordPress then Headway is a no-brainer. And if you agree with my reasons above, Headway would be a great choice for you. It will allow you to extend the power of WordPress and have a more flexible website, at your own pace and time.

Web designer types will also find Headway useful for clients, but you may prefer to code your own theme or go for Thesis (which I use on this site). Headway also allows custom CSS and has a variety of hooks to take advantage of, but I think Thesis still leads in that area.

Headway is a premium theme and costs USD87 for a personal license (use on up to 2 websites) and USD164 for a developer license (unlimited websites). For that you get the theme, access to documentation and support forums where the friendly staff will help you with any questions you may have.

Learn more about Headway

Note: There are 2 different products named WordPress. The first is the software which you can download from WordPress.org, and the other is a service that uses the software to let you create a blog for free at WordPress.com. The Headway theme only works for the first product, i.e. the free software that you download and install on your own web server.

This past weekend I conducted a Social Media Marketing Workshop in collaboration with the NIE Unit of New Straits Times. 45 participants from diverse backgrounds like hotels, private hospitals, entrepreneurs and small business owners spent their Saturday and Sunday with me learning social media strategy for blogging, Facebook, Twitter and even SEO.

My main goal was to deliver enormous value and I spent weeks condensing my experience into an actionable workshop syllabus and materials. Judging by the feedback, the workshop was well-received and managed to empower participants to begin using social media to promote their business and increase sales.

Thank you to all of the participants who attended, I really appreciate your participation and your attention. I wish you all success in your online marketing endeavours and encourage you to put what you have learnt to use.

I also want to thank the New Straits Times for collaborating with Buzzmedia on this workshop. Special thanks to Joe How and Ganesan from the NIE Unit for organising everything.

Thank you also to Packet One, Malaysia’s leading WiMAX network, for providing internet access at the event. Finally, special thanks to Headway Themes and JustHost for providing special offers to the participants.

WOW Photo is an art and photography studio that is operated by Hafiz Ismail. Photography is a competitive industry here in Malaysia but WOW Photo stands out among others having grown its Facebook Fan Page to 3,000+ fans.

Hafiz launched the fan page after attending my Buzzmedia Bootcamp: Social Media Basics in mid-December. Within a month the page had grown to 1,000 fans. Last week, Hafiz announced that WOW Photo had hit 3,000 fans.

In this video, Hafiz discusses some of the steps and tactics he used to grow WOW Photo’s Facebook Fans from 0 to 3,000 in 2 months.

WOW Photo hits 3000 fans

Among the tactics that Hafiz used was:

• Posting updates that are useful and contained valuable information. In his case, he posted tips on how to look good in photos (I wish I had known these tips earlier!)
• Tagging his clients in the photos uploaded to the Page. This causes the photo to show up in the News Feeds of friends of his clients, and draws them to being Fans.
• Leveraging the personal networks of his photographers – all of them are Page admins and can post updates and content to the Page. They also invited their Facebook friends to the Page.

Hafiz also shared that as a result of the growing Facebook Fans, WOW Photo has increased the number of leads and enquiries received due to word of mouth. Facebook is going to continue to play a big role in his marketing plans and his next challenge is to increase his conversion rate of his Facebook Fans.

WOW Photo will be conducting a free portraiture session for kids this Saturday. If you want some professional portraits of your children I strongly recommend checking out the event details – Kids Portraiture with Diela Norain.

Finally, congratulations to the WOW Photo crew on your achievement. You made it look easy! In addition to the WOW Photo Facebook Page, be sure to follow WOW Photo (@wowfoto) and Hafiz (@hafizismail) on Twitter.

If you’d like to learn how you can use Facebook for your business, come attend my Social Media Marketing Workshop this 6-7 March 2010. This event is held in collaboration with the New Straits Times and will also cover Twitter, Blogging, SEO and web strategy. Register now.

While many Malaysian companies are just beginning to understand social media, Packet One Networks (P1), is a company that has been in the forefront of integrating social media into all levels of their organisation. P1 not only uses social media in their marketing efforts, but in their customer service operations too.

Many companies have grown used to speaking at their consumers through mass media advertising campaigns. However for P1, they recognise social media as a platform for them to engage with consumers directly in a public channel.

P1 Chief Operating Officer Idham Nawawi

Key to this is the whole-hearted support of social media by their senior management. COO Idham Nawawi told me in this interview how they deliberately fostered the adoption of social media within P1 by getting all the senior management to sign up for Twitter and learn how to communicate with consumers. By walking the talk, the senior management is able to lead the Packeteers to adopt the use of social media and promoting its effective and responsible use.

Another challenge for P1 was balancing the speed in which social media interactions happen with the necessary administration and control. Like many others they have an empoyee communications policy and ticketing support system in place, but I really loved their immunity cards.

P1 Immunity Cards

Employees are encouraged to take the initiative to solve problems and engage with consumers. Each employee is issued 3 immunity cards which they can use if they ever make a mistake to spare them from a ticking off. It’s a simple idea, but it helps their employees learn to be responsible and is great for morale.

Watch the interview to learn about how P1 cultivates a social media-friendly culture and how they engage their customers (I had to edit it down to <10 minutes for YouTube). Feel free to also share the interview with your friends.

My sincerest thanks to P1 for being open to this interview. A big shout out especially to Idham, Amin and Cynthia who made it possible. Follow the P1 senior management on Twitter – CEO Michael Lai (@MichaelLaiP1), COO Idham Nawawi (@IdhamNawawi) and CMO Kenny Wong (@KennyWong).

Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd (P1) is Malaysia’s first and leading WiMAX telecommunications company with the country’s widest WiMAX network. P1’s goal is to bridge the digital divide by making access to the internet universal, ubiquitous and affordable for every Malaysian. P1 hopes to play a major part in realizing the nation’s goal – to have 50% broadband penetration by 2010. Learn more at www.p1.com.my.

Everything You Need To Know About Using Free Social Media Tools To Get More Customers And Kick Start Your Online Marketing

Social media is changing the way consumers interact with businesses. Previously, only big companies with big marketing budgets had access to mass audiences. But social media has leveled the playing field so that anyone can build an audience, a business and a brand for zero dollars.

No matter if you’re a big or small business, you can use social media to help you:

• Form and nurture profitable relationships with your customers
• Get more referrals through online word of mouth
• Improve customer loyalty and repeat sales
• Be more cost effective with your marketing
• Increased your findability through search engines and other online channels
• Be recognised as the person or brand who can provide solutions

REGISTER NOW

Workshop Programme

The workshop not only tells you how to do it, we’ll show you how to do it too with hands-on practical instruction. This includes exercises that will help you form a social media strategy that you can begin using immediately after the workshop.

The lessons you will learn from this workshop equips you with tools and strategies that applies to your retail, online or service business. It is grounded in principles which you can adapt for any situation.

Topics covered include:

REGISTER NOW

Who should attend

This Social Media Workshop is aimed at small business owners, marketing and public relations, and front-line marketers.

This seminar is meant for you if

• You have heard about Social Media but don’t think you have enough ‘tech knowledge’ to use it in your business
• You want to learn from Malaysian examples and local success stories
• You don’t want another ‘Make Money Online’ or ‘Massive Website Traffic’ seminar
  
• You are not sure of the difference between a Facebook Group and Facebook Page
• You still don’t have a website or blog for your business
• You believe in long-term relationships with your customer, and not short-term profits

Workshop advert in NST

For enquiries about the workshop content, please contact David Wang of Buzzmedia.

For enquiries about registration and payment, please contact Joseph How or Ganesan of New Straits Times (NIE Unit) (03-2056-9692/9615 or joseph_how @ nstp.com.my / vganesan @ nstp.com.my.)

Terms & Conditions

1. The event date, venue and program is subject to change without any notice.
2. Full payment must be made 5 working days before the programme at: The NIE Unit, Level 2, Anjung Riong, NSTP Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.
3. Cheques should be made to THE NEW STRAITS TIMES PRESS (M) BHD. Payment can be made in person or couriered to the above address. At the back of the cheque please indicate participant’s name and workshop registered for. Post-dated cheques will not be accepted.

Following up from last month’s post on social media predictions, this time around I asked my friends in major brands and agencies to contribute their insights. The contributors to this article are:

1. James Yeang, Product Marketing Manager at DiGi Communications
2. Cynthia Seow, Senior Manager of New Media at Packet One Networks
3. Derek Tan, Social Media Specialist at AirAsia
4. Biresh Vrajlal, PR & Marcom Manager at Tune Hotels
5. Cheah Hsu Jen, Senior Marketing Executive at New Zealand Natural Malaysia
6. Rachel Foong, New Media Executive at Sunway University College
7. Niki Cheong, Journalist at The Star
8. Karen Hoh, Managing Director at Edelman Malaysia
9. David Lian, Social Media Strategist at Text100 Malaysia
10. Gan Mei Lian, Client Service Director at Euro RSCG Malaysia
11. Nizwani Shahar, Associate Brand Director at McCann Erickson Malaysia
12. Alex Lam, Managing Director at Integricity

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the above are their personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer or clients.

Executive Summary

Here are the social media trends and insights for Malaysia that I extracted from their responses.

• Malaysian brands are relatively immature with regards to social media. While there has been an increase in participation recently, many are doing so for the sake of jumping on the bandwagon. Majority of the respondents agree that social media maturity will require more time. Takeaway – brands have an opportunity to crush it if they can get ahead of the curve of their competitors.
• There are many challenges facing brands in social media (strategy, expertise, perceived loss of control, etc) are causing brands to be very cautious. For the front-liners, the challenge is educating management and being able to engage and be transparent. Takeaway – many of the stumbling blocks are caused by lack of experience, therefore it’s extremely important to jump in and learn by doing.
• 100% of the respondents are planning to increase investment in social media. From the tone I guess that some may give social media a bigger slice of the marketing budget moving forward. Takeaway – be sure to measure and track results from campaigns to justify the investment in the channel.
• Facebook and Twitter rule.. but brands are cautious and cognizant of the fact that the next big thing are right around the corner. Takeaway – don’t put all your eggs in the Facebook and Twitter basket.

Soundbites

Below are the questions I posed to the contributors, with some highlighted responses. You can view the complete responses at this Google Spreadsheet.

How far along are brands in social media maturity? Will 2010 see many brands who are still unconvinced, or will we see more becoming comfortable with social media?

James: I personally think it’s oversold and overhyped. Too many brands want to hop on the bandwagon JUST because it’s facebook or twitter or blogs, and they pay an agency TONS of money to manage them. What they should be thinking about is connecting with their customers.  Pick a few platforms, or even ONE platform, and just do it well.  If the agency does all the work, and they are the ones who build all the relationships – what is the point? And all you really need is to be timely, honest, transparent, and helpful – and a have good product to stand behind.

Nizwani: The core issue faced with brands is the classic case of the pink elephant – everyone can see it in the room, but nobody knows what to do with it. Brands are becoming more familiar with social media but will need to invest more time and effort in identifying their own objectives to be able to ultimately maximize the use of this space.

Karen: The year 2010 will be when social media will become ‘invisible’ – mainstream, a normal part of the fabric of discussion about marketing and communications for brands. Right now, we’re still quite a bit away from that, but things are moving quickly. Take for example the recent decisions by Unilever and Coke to move from campaign microsites to social media – that announcement caused panic and excitement globally in equal measures. In Malaysia, MNC and local brands could be a lot more engaged on social media.  By and large, many brand marketers in Malaysia are still reticent about social media and how it can drive business results, but it will change quickly.

What will be the biggest challenge in implementing social media in 2010?

Rachel: Companies will need to be brave enough to let the channels be their point of contact with consumers instead of letting agencies handle the channels. At this point, a lot of brands are still learning but without little to any hands-on. I hope that 2010 will be the year for brands to own social media and let it transform their organisation inside out to produce better customer service and products. No one should know the brand better than its mother.

David: Getting the right people. I believe eventually, every company should manage its own social media presence, with agencies playing a supporting role in creating content, channels and consulting on strategy. However, the dearth of talent means that its more likely for companies to outsource the social media engagement role to their agency at this point of time. Companies with a longer term view will invest in training and upskilling individuals to take on an internal social media role within next few years.

Nizwani: Biggest challenge in implementing social media this year, is how to get the most out of the consumer experience with the brand. The concern of the previous decade is that TV was becoming fragmented. Now with social media personalization and customization, brands are able to target the consumers in the most effective way possible. The ability to profile users and to create unique engagements enable brands to present their messaging to the right target and reduce wastage, as opposed to the typical spot-buys online (or on FB, MySpace, etc).

Hsu Jen: I think that because it has been used and abused by so many other brands/companies (e.g. merely pushing promotions instead of engaging people), the challenge might be grabbing the consumer’s attention, and keeping it. With so many brands hopping onto the social media bandwagon now and trying out new ideas to stand out from the crowd, there’s a lot of shouting going on. Sometimes, too much.

Biresh: The biggest challenge for implementing social media in 2010 will be for brands to engage with the people/fans instead of trying to sell them.  They would also do well to hire someone (not necessarily a guru) who can execute this well.

Cynthia: Alot of brands, are not sure of the space because it so alive and real. You don’t really know what is going in the heads of the consumers in this space, so you just got to try and find things that works for you. Of course, there are tried and tested methods but ultimately, its not a ONE size fits all solution. So you just got to try, and make mistakes along the way – after all, we are all human behind the walls of social media.

Karen: My view is that brands are curious at the very least, and would very much like to embark on social media engagement, but many brand marketers generally 1) are not sure how or where to start; 2) are not sure how much it will cost long term, not only spend, but investment in resources; 3) are unsure about measuring ROI; and, 4) are somewhat anxious about “losing control,” the exposure and risk, e.g. negative comments or criticism for all to see.

How much are you intending to increase / decrease investment in social media for yourself / your clients in 2010? Why?

Mei: We will continue to encourage our clients to increase their investment in social media in 2010. Reason is due to the clutter and high cost in traditional media. Social media is also a complementary medium to traditional media as it enables clients to engage directly with consumers and connect with them on an emotional level.

Derek: We are planning to actually expand our outreach to meet the demands of our market growth and language needs in differing markets. We need to start reaching out based on market needs instead of an overarching strategy that will never encompass all our objectives in social media

Alex: Increase, as we see trends moving rapidly from the traditional one-way communication to two-ways [...] We have our own community managers now, and that’s a serious step towards social media adoption for 2010 on our part!

Niki: There is a notion now that social media is free, and it is to a certain extent, but everyone will need to invest more to keep up and to use it more effectively. This would be what I recommend any individual or brands trying to engage in social media.

Cynthia: We are gonna rock the social media space in 2010! Watch out! (Editor’s note: the gauntlet has been thrown )

What specific social media tools or channels will you / your clients be focusing on in 2010? Why?

Rachel: Our target audience uses Facebook a lot. That will be a permanent channel. But we are seeing an increase on Twitter. Blogs will also be an increasing focus, a new territory for us. LowYat has been a very good channel as well.

Niki: I think I’m more interested to see how far Twitter goes in 2010, and if it has the staying power, which i think it does. But with the Net, and social media, things change so fast and new technologies appear out of nowhere, it will be interesting to see what comes up next. To directly answer your question, I think it will be foolish to just focus on particular tools… I think you first need to look at the objective of your plan – whether for individuals or brands – to decide what are the best tools to achieve that.

Mei: For our clients who are just making their first steps into social media, we will encourage them to embark on a listening exercise to first understand what consumers are saying about them / their competitors , before deciding on the next steps.

Nizwani: Specifically, I believe the focus will be to leverage on social networking, gaming, micro-blogging and video channels. A mix and match strategy of these different channels will help brands cover more ground and in the end reach more of their potential targets by generating greater conversations.

Besides social media, what other online marketing tools or channels will you / your clients be investing in for 2010? How would you rate these other tools in comparison to social media?

Alex: Traditional email newsletters, micro-site based campaigns, media buy. They work well for different industries and types of people.

Derek: I think measurement has been severely underutilised and what do we do with the data has to also improve. It’s easier to say that we can’t speak to our 24 million database and generic messages should be adequate but that way, we will never fully accomplish the potential of social media and provide more interaction and prompt more loyalty and communication which should take center stage.

Biresh: Increasing our email database & online advertising will still be a major marketing tool for us besides a strong public relations drive which has always been a cornerstone of our branding and marketing initiative. Social media will complement those initiatives by engaging the guests.

David: Augmented reality is starting to get accepted in the mainstream and geo-location services (though not necessarily social) will provide new ways for customers to experience and interact with brands.

Any other comments?

Derek: I think what companies lack when they start is a unifying objective and a long term strategy. often the confusion of what social media can achieve can also deter not only external parties but also internally. The notion that social media is free media is a wrong approach and no amount of social media can alter the image of who you are but it can keep you connected, engaged and most importantly relevant to all stakeholders which should be the essence of the social media approach.

David: Don’t rely on predictions – especially in the tech industry. Be prepared to be surprise and prepared to react fast. The industry is so fast moving, and tools so quickly changing that the next new thing will be on us before the year is out.

* * * * *

I’d like to say thanks to the correspondents. I really appreciate you sharing your insights and helping to shed some light on social media here in Malaysia. For the full responses of the correspondents, you can view this Google Spreadsheet.

For those who are interested in learning more about social media, do attend one of the Social Media Club KL’s events and subscribe to our mailing list – the Buzzmedia Bulletin.

Video is a great way to provide customer education and support sales and marketing activities. With the growing penetration of broadband and the dozens of video hosting services, it’s easier than ever to publish and distribute your videos to your market.

Unfortunately, not all video hosting services are created equally. For example, many of these services are based in USA and so videos can take longer to load when viewing them here in Malaysia. Now that I’ve started producing more videos for Buzzmedia (see my first one here) I’ve had to do some research on the different options we have here in Malaysia.

Video hosting comparison

It wasn’t as simple as I thought and I wanted to share the pros and cons of each service. In my research, I looked at YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv and Facebook video and weighed them against the following criteria: speed, video quality, terms of service and upload limitations.

Speed

Probably the most important factor when considering on a video hosting service is the speed, i.e. the time it takes the video to load and begin playing. Out of all the video hosting services I have used the four which I’m reviewing here (YouTube, Vimeo, blip.tv and Facebook video) have decent speeds when viewing them from Malaysia. Others like Viddler, DailyMotion and even Ovi by Nokia take noticably longer to load. YouTube has definitely got the best loading speeds since Google caches the videos and has a content delivery network that covers the whole world. I didn’t test the services by any scientific means, and mainly watched my network meter while trying out each service.

Winner for best video streaming speed – YouTube

Video Quality

Video quality is how good the video looks after you’ve uploaded it to the different services. The 4 shortlisted services all also support high definition (HD) videos too. This test is a bit more subjective, but I think that Vimeo has the best looking video out of all the shortlisted services. YouTube has got noticably poorer video quality, however HD videos on YouTube look pretty good.

Winner for best video quality – Vimeo

Upload Allowance

Each of these services have a limit on the video length and size when you upload them:

• YouTube – 1GB or 10 minutes per video
• Vimeo – 500MB per week, no video length restriction
• Blip.tv – 1GB per video, no video length restriction
• Facebook Video – 1GB or 20 minutes per video

Winner for best upload allowance – Blip.tv

Terms of Service (Licensing)

This is the main stumbling block when choosing a video hosting service. Besides the normal stuff that you can’t upload (copyrighted material, pornography), some of these services prohibit you from uploading certain forms of content. For example, on Blip.tv you cannot upload videogames. Blip.tv is meant for “original, episodic content” and prohibits content that advertises a product or service (source).

The same goes for Vimeo. You are not allowed to upload “commercials, infomercials, or demos that actively sell or promote a product or service” (source). There are a lot of stories of Vimeo suddenly deciding to yank videos off their service because they violate these terms, for example Why you will regret using Vimeo by Paul Boag. Vimeo’s inconsistency in enforcing their terms has also caused a bit of disatisfaction among Vimeo users because there are some accounts that have very clear advertising in their videos but Vimeo allows them, presumably because they are major content producers.

On the other hand, YouTube seems to be the least restrictive while there isn’t much info on Facebook regarding what you can or cannot upload to their service.

Winner for most flexible terms of service – YouTube

Which Service to Choose

Each of the different services also provide a slightly different value proposition for using their service. If you’re an aspiring filmaker or podcaster and you don’t promote a product or service, Blip.tv and Vimeo look to be excellent choices. Blip.tv even shares advertising revenue and helps to publish your videos to other places including iTunes.

However if you are using videos to promote your business, product or software demos, talks and seminars you presented at, you are probably safer sticking with YouTube. YouTube has got the tightest allowances on video uploads, so you’ll probably spend more time editing your videos to make sure they are under 10 minutes and 1GB, but they will also reach the widest audience and load the quickest for audiences in Malaysia.

If you’re willing to consider paid only services, vzaar seems to load quite quickly here, and there are also others like Fliqz and Brightcove.

My main objective of writing this post was to help make sure that you are aware of the pros and cons of each service before you choose a video hosting service. I myself have decided to go with YouTube despite its shortcomings after learning about the terms of service of the other services. What do you think? Which video hosting service do you use?

The sheer number of social media sites and services make keeping up with mentions of your brand a real challenge. Fortunately there are a number of social media monitoring services that have emerged to solve that problem. Benjamin Koe, co-founder of JamiQ provides a quick overview of social media monitoring and how to make use of it in the video above. Ben also tells us a little bit about how his product works.

JamiQ is a Singapore-based company that provides social media monitoring services, specializing in Asian markets and languages. As a user, I can vouch that Radian6’s coverage of Malaysia and Singapore can be hit or miss, so if you’re based in this region, definitely give JamiQ a try.

P.S. Thank you Ben for taking the time to speak to me!

Edelman and Brandtology have found that Twitter is now the ‘Buzziest Channel’ in their latest Digital Brand Index study (DBI 2.0), which was conducted across eight Asia-Pacific markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan).

For brands, Google remains the most talked about brand, edging out Microsoft and Maxis. Here’s the Top 10 most talked-about brands in Malaysia according to the study:

It’s interesting to see that Malaysians love to talk about their mobile service providers. I wonder if they aggregated sub brands like Xpax and UOX into Celcom, for example, and if these discussions were about the brand alone (e.g. DiGi’s Pimp My Broadband campaign) or in partnership with handset manufacturers (e.g. Maxis with Apple iPhone).

DBI 2.0 also found that Twitter leap-frogged many other news sources and sites to become the dominant conversation platform. The study found that Twitter made up a large percentage of all conversations tracked in APAC markets but didn’t give any figures for Malaysia, though it showed that Twitter has overtaken LowYat forums as the online watering hole for Malaysians.

Karen Hoh, Managing Director of Edelman Malaysia made a comment that I wholeheartedly agree with:

Brands and organisations are fighting for attention more than ever before. If a brand or organisation is not participating in online conversations, it will eventually drop off our streaming consciousness, simply because we are bombarded with thousands of visual and audio messages every day.

Takeaway for marketers: You can’t afford to ignore Twitter anymore.

Update 25 Jan

Lim poses a good question asking why Facebook is nowhere to be seen in the Top 10 channels despite having over 3.5 million Malaysia users. My assumption is that Facebook isn’t part of the public web and therefore not indexable by Brandtology.

Another thought after this post–Low Yat forums are still the major conversation channels in Malaysia. Takeaway from this? Social media doesn’t have to be high tech or cool. Just jump in the forums and answer questions to begin engaging.

Read the press release here, and spend some time exploring the regional press releases and fact sheets as well. I’ve embedded the Malaysia press release below.

Marcus Osborne is co-founder and Managing Director of FusionBrand, a brand consultancy headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. He’s a friendly chap that I got to know through Twitter (follow him at @brandconsultant) and in addition to providing interesting commentary on Malaysia as a Brit living in KL, he also publishes a blog on branding in Asia.

Marcus blogs pretty regularly, which indicates that blogging has been beneficial to him in some way. With Twitter exploding in Asia, could blogging still be of value to businesses? I asked him a few questions to find out how.

Please tell us about FusionBrand

FusionBrand is a brand consultancy based in KL. FusionBrand is unique in that it eschews the traditional approach of using creativity to build brands and instead looks at how the organisation can deliver economic, emotional and experiential value to clients. This benefits the company as it avoids wasting funds on one-size-fits-all communications campaigns that are generally ineffective. It also benefits the client because the company understands their needs and requirements.

What do you write about on your blog and what’s your readership like?

My blog aims to help readers build profitable brands. To do this they must understand what branding is (and what it isn’t) and what their company needs to do to build a brand. Obviously each brand is unique and there is no silver bullet but I hope that by reading my blog readers will understand what needs to be done, the pitfalls they must be aware of so that they don’t make the same mistakes other brands have made. Over the last 6 months, I’ve averaged 640 views per month or 22 views per day.

What are your main motivations for blogging? Is it a formal strategy to win clients?

The blog gives me a platform to change perceptions of branding and to communicate my knowledge to readers and I know this knowledge can benefit those readers. It is also part of a strategy to build the FusionBrand brand.

What sort of business results has the blog led to? In other words, what sort of ROI has the blog generated?

The blog has created a lot of awareness for myself and the company. I receive approximately 2 requests to speak each week. The blog itself has not specifically generated any business however I do know that it reinforces our offering.

Blogging seems like a dated medium compared to Twitter, Facebook & the fad of the day. Why do you continue blogging in spite of that?

I don’t agree that blogging is a dated medium. It is a valuable conduit to consumers. My blog gives me a unique opportunity to express my views. Consumers can then read those views and if they relate can pursue me further. It is an effective marketing tool that plays a role in the development of the relationship with the prospect and later, client. It is more accepted with conservative companies and is also inexpensive compared with developing traditional marketing collateral and obviously I can update it on a regular basis.

Marketing Takeaway

Blogging helps position yourself as an authority

The biggest lesson to be learnt here is that consistent marketing, even though it is small, can and will generate results. The key is consistency. In this case, blogging has helped Marcus position himself as an authority in branding. Prospects are also more likely to enquire the services of an expert they are already familiar with, e.g. they have seen him giving a presentation, or in this case seen his thoughts and views in his blog. This has further led to speaking and training engagements, and prospect enquiries. Just browse the comments to see.

This is also a classic example of inbound marketing, where marketers publish content that provides value to their target audience to draw them into their marketing funnel. The topics that Marcus writes about are relevant to FusionBrand’s audience which has opened doors for him. My advice to Marcus here and other bloggers would be to write a series of posts that are part of a wider topic, preferrably aimed at beginners. This will not only attract the target audience, but if the series is valuable enough they will bookmark it and return to the posts in the future or even pass it on to colleagues.

Another takeaway is that blogging provides your business a platform to connect and engage with consumers. I get the feeling many still feel blogging is ‘journaling’ or writing a personal diary. Marketers need to look beyond that and see blogging as a communications platform that allows businesses to engage directly with consumers through written, audio and even video content. In a world where content is king, blogging is an excellent platform to publish that content. As we’ve seen, the key to getting results is consistency. Today’s blogging platforms like WordPress are so user friendly that it’s really easy to publish posts and be consistent.

The final lesson here is that the Buzzmedia blog has some way to go before I catch up with Marcus

Thanks to Marcus for sharing his insights and thanks to you for reading! Be sure to visit Marcus’ blog at http://brandconsultantasia.wordpress.com.