"GANGNAM Style" - Global Takeover!

T-Pain and Katy Perry mentioned about it on her twitter!

It beats Justin Bieber on U.S. iTunes MV Chart for the first place!

It has been featured on CNN, WSJ, and other foreign TV News Channels!

Youtube has heaps of parody/dance cover/ etc. about it!

It also appears on 9GAG!

So... What is "Gangnam Style"!!?

"Gangnam Style" is a Korean song by Psy. However, this song is not only popular in Korea or Asian countries, but all over the world!

Within only a month (since July 15), the Psy's "Gangnam Style" music video on Youtube has got over 46 million hits! Statistics show that only 50% of them were from Asia, followed by 26% from North America, 16% from Europe and the rest of them from South America and Oceania. 

The question here is... What makes this song and horse-riding dance so popular? (regardless of the fact that half of the audiences do not understand Korean or meaning of the song)

• Psy's unique appearance - not like other typical Korean boy bands/ girl groups.
• The comical dance - It's funny! Any reason not to love it!?
• The electronic beats - which is the hottest genre in North America and Europe at the moment
• Social Networking sites (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter) - That's why people around the world know about this!

YG Entertainment, the company that Psy belongs to, also gives a credit to the company office in New York for spreading this "Gangnam Style" viral movement. A music critic mentioned, 'If the YG Entertainment staff in New York didn't have the experience dealing with America new media, Psy's music video may not have become famous as it is now."

• Parody version - Pony & Gangnam Style

• Nelly Furtado & Gangnam Style at a concert in Philippines

and meanwhile we read this post, Psy is actually in the United States to meet Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Japson for a remake collaboration of "Gangnam Style."

Credit:

- http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/12843/20120819/psy-gangnam-style-global-takeover-k-pop.htm

- http://www.upi.com/blog/2012/08/21/Gangnam-Style-South-Korean-rapper-PSY-shows-off-K-pop-swagger/2641345559079/

Social Media Bandwagon

Does your company really need social media?


Yesterday I went to a marketing event called 'LET'S GET DIGITAL,' which was arranged by MMSS. The event got a few speakers to come and give a presentation; however, this blog I am going to focus on 'Social Media Bandwagon,' an interesting point that Josh Strawczynski, the account director of Pixel Light, raised during his presentation.

Of course! we all know that social media is a trend and there are lots of advantages from doing social media, as we can see many examples from all the BIG brand names. However, it does not mean that you just go register for a twitter account, youtube channel or create a facebook fan page, then it is all done. (we, marketers, wish that it would be simple as that).

Before any brand decides to jump into any social media channels, there are few questions that the brand should ask themselves first:

• What their key performance indicators (KPI) are
• Why you need to do it
• How it fits to marketing mix
• How much the budget will be given to social media

By the word 'social media', if you don't know how to 'connect' with the customers, do not bother wasting your time and resources into this type of trend. There is no such thing like 'one size fits all' answer. Therefore, it is possible that social media is unnecessary for your company/industry (for example, photo frame industry << how could you connect yourself with customer online?)

One question that Josh asked and answered on that night was... Is social media important?

The answer:

• Small business  >>  RARELY
• Medium business >> MAYBE
• Large business >> PROBABLY

Therefore,

Don't do it because you think that it's free!

Don't do it because some other people do it! 

Don't do it if you don't know what the purpose is!

Because at the end you will get NOTHING from there.

AIBA - How should you respond to Thai people's anger?

NEGATIVE POSTS on your brand's facebook?
There are many ways to respond - replying the post; waiting for your fans to come and protect your brand; or...
The most suggested solution might be... to not response and leave it until that negative post being pushed down through the timeline.

BUT!!

What if there are HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of negative comments!!?


London Olympic 2012 was over, but the anger of Thai people towards AIBA with an injustice judgement is still on the flame. From the final boxing match, it is obvious that Thai would get the gold medal in this Olympic boxing competition; however, the winner at the end turned to be Chinese boxer, while people who watched the match were suspicious of Olympic scoring.

News from the Age "Boos ring round as another controversial decision mars Olympic boxing competition": http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/news-london-2012/boos-ring-round-as-another-controversial-decision-mars-olympic-boxing-competition-20120812-2429v.html?fb_action_ids=10152012286345246&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%2210152012286345246%22%3A10151161467086499%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210152012286345246%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

After the match was end, people who watched the final match (not only Thai people) have criticized AIBA (International Boxing Association) in many forms and many channels (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, ...) - putting it on their facebook status, sharing the photo as well as the video.

From Twitter

This photo has been shared through facebook over 1000 times 

The number of comments criticizing AIBA on AIBA's facebook page has increased more and more. However, none of them get any responses (both those written in Thai and English)

AIBA's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AIBA.Boxing

Until 12/8/2012, the page called 'Anti-AIBA: Thai victory has been stolen' was set up - and within 3 days (15/8/2012), the page has over 18,000 likes!

Anti-AIBA's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AntiAibaThaiVictoryHasBeenStolen

All the negative perspective are spreading around social media channels and No one can stop them!
How should AIBA respond to this situation?
Should they IGNORE or RESPOND?

In my opinion, although they want to respond, how should they respond!?

Feel free to discuss and contribute!

What is Google Buzz?

Social media is a trend,
BUT there is no guarantee that all of them would succeed.

To start this brand new blog, 'Social media + Marketing', I would like to show you a youtube video that my friend and I made few years ago (2010), when we took the unit MKF3881: Electronic marketing at Monash University. The aim of the video is "to show how a specific online social media tool can be used by marketers to create customer value." In this case, we chose 'Google Buzz.'

'Google Buzz' was launched in February 2010, but then was discontinued in December 2011.

Obviously, there are many social media channels coming up from time to time... Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, you name it. However, there is no guarantee that every social media tools would succeed. When my friend and I made this video back in 2010, we discussed if Google Buzz would be able to compete with other social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. The answer is obvious now, 'NO.'

Why? Although social media is a trend, people would choose only a few channels to focus on, not go for every channels that the world will offer! Then, what is the criteria in choosing what channel to use?

1. FRIENDS: As the main purpose of social media is about connecting and creating interaction/conversation, there is no point having a Google Buzz account without friends or few friends, while most of their friends are on Facebook.

2. Point of Difference: If you cannot clearly differentiate yourself with others, no one would notice you. They would go for those that are well known in the industry. Talking about 'Brand', this does not apply to only social media aspects, but 'marketing' in general!


What about Google+ that was launched in June 2011?
In my opinion, Google+ is still not that active or 'social.' Facebook is still the number 1 in the industry.
Is Google+ goint to end up like Google Buzz in the future?

Feel free to discuss and share your opinion.

Credit:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Buzz
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%2B