Monday, April 23, 2012

Riding the Waves of Social Media Marketing

Today I was at the JW Marriot hotel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, attending Social Media Marketing Master Class from Mr Luke Brynley-Jones, one of the UK's most experienced and best known social media consultants. A trip if during weekend would only take 15 minutes from my house, on a sweet Monday morning like this, it could simply surpass an hour mark with no traffic police sighted along the way. Oh, how I dreaded the early morning jam but at the same time I was so thrilled to explore the opportunities that social media could bring to our brand and our business.

We started with Facebook and Twitter some years ago with doubts in our heads. Would this work? Who would Like us? Who would follow? Would the industry take us seriously? I understood all the concerns but at the same time, there was something about the social media that just couldn't be ignored. Exposing our brand to a large number of targetted audience via a cost effective measure and it is permission marketing, it is just too good to pass, isn't it?

But the question remains, how could FingerTec be in the social media when we are not a consumer brand. We are not selling toothpaste, we are not a brandname of a snack or fizzy drink, we sell hard stuff industry products. Many of our clients have question marks on their heads and even now some are still raising eyebrows with our involvement in the social media channels. These platforms are meant for social, not business.. so they say.

This seminar convinced me that we are on the right track. Even though we understand the power of social media marketing to businesses, we still lack of understanding on how to strategically plan the social media marketing to get the best out of the audiences in these platforms. There are a lot of ground to cover to stay active and effective in this marketing mix. Selection of channels, the question of ROI, the reputation we need to maintain and manage, strategies to plan, etc.

FingerTec Facebook likes are now approaching 19K and counting. We have gathered our fans from around the world though our efforts and through our partners' Facebook pages. Though compared to Coca-Cola, our number can be considered miniscule, we are proud of where we are through the efforts that we've put on so far.

One interesting point to note about our target in social media marketing is that, FingerTec is not here to hard sell our products, we are here on these platforms to connect with all FingerTec users around the globe who have been using the products for attendance and for their office security. Positive or negative feedbacks, we accept them. And we warmly welcome your presence on our social networking space, to be a part of our lives.

Join us at www.facebook.com/fingertecworldwide

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ