I recently answered two questions with regards to Digital Advertising/Digital Marketing/Social Media Marketing in Asia- and as usual, thought of sharing with you. The good thing this way is that even though the answers are spontaneous, they do give a chance to spread further and open newer discussions. Of course this blog also serves as a bucket of ideas and reference points (for me and hopefully for you) and documenting these questions and answers helps in many ways.

So here they are:

Question 1) Can only large corporations leverage the Social Networking platform or small companies, as well?

No doubt Social Media Marketing (as it is called) is quite labour, time and expertise intensive. However, it is just that the ‘big’ names get more publicity- sometimes because of the ‘familiar brand’ factor and sometimes as a stamp to the success or legitimacy of this stream of this marketing (“If the big guys have started getting into it, it must be working really well”).

Actually, till sometime back, the debate was quite the opposite- is Social Media Marketing only good for small brands- was the question. I have seen businesses from all categories- from really small units (cyber cafes, blogshops) to medium size early stage businesses (read zappos) to really big ones (read Dell, Skittles, P&G, HP) to people (Obama’s legendary use and follow by all political leaders across the world- including now India’s Advani and others) and even rock stars (nine inch nails, Britney). There are numerous cases of Asian brands- many in Singapore, Malaysia, South east Asia and India that are using this medium with good results. Though I must admit- we in Asia tend to get inspired a whole lot by our Western counterparts when it comes to Social Media Marketing in particular and Digital marketing in general.

Net Net, the scale (of Social Media audience participation) is huge, whether Singapore or elsewhere and tha audience is quite heterogeneous. The spirit of collaborative/participative marketing and platforms and channels galore- make it an ideal launchpad for any business.

Question 2) What single Internet technology is making the biggest impact in the marketing and advertising industry and why?
If Google, then what Internet technology could possibly unseat Google in the future

By “making an impact” I think what is meant is ‘buzz’ within the marketing community.

There are too many things as of now actually- some directly marketing related and some with derived uses for marketing-from cloud computing to semantic web. But if I had to pinpoint to one stream- that is here and now, then (at the cost of sounding cliched) I would say something that is being referred to as “Social Media”- even though it is yet unproven for “advertising” there is a huge buzz around collaborative/participative/proactive marketing lately. Though WoM (Word of Mouth marketing) has been around for ages, there is a new found interest in this field kindled by the waves that this channel is creating. Even if it sounds hyped by now, many organizations have not been able to crack it (yet) and with that respect, it is still pretty new.

What is fantastic about this is that applications could be built around existing platforms to give unprecedented insights to marketers basis which marketing campaigns are built. The insights and learning from this media could be used across channels- including paid search.

Another trend is the marketing fraternity’s increasing understanding that all platforms or channels have impact on each other and cross media conjunction can heighten impact of a singular channel. I have seen organizations buying Paid Search to increase their Twitter followers for example. It is already proven that TV ads drive more searches and sooner or later there will be studies done on how Social Media Marketing campaigns can increase your display advertising RoIs.
Apart from constant fascination with future gazing, marketers are also realizing that it is important to harness the latest but “here and present” stuff.

So thats it- two relevant questions and my answers.