Get Spotted In An Ocean of Information

Gauging your own popularity in the search engine by typing your own name in Google is an act of vanity and if indeed you do it occasionally, it should be kept under wrap forever. But, gauging your company’s popularity in search engines is not an act of a narcissist; it is an act of a good business sense! When a large part of your marketing relies on your existence in the Internet, being found online should be one of your business’s top priorities. Creating corporate and commercial websites are among the first steps which many companies have taken on seriously plus the advertising of www addresses everywhere, but not many companies would actually promote the website in the Internet for the millions of Internet users out there.

The fact is, the Internet world is more than meets the eye. Think of the Internet as an ocean of information and like the sea, there are mysteries waiting to be unfolded. It requires extra effort from a company to learn about the potential of the Internet in business. 

The key to being found online is keywords. What keywords would your potential clients be using to search for your company? People who don’t know your brand will not key in your brand’s name into the search engine. My point is, you can’t claim that your brand is always on top when you typed in your brand’s in the search engine. The truth of the matter is, people would not type your brand when they are looking for biometrics time attendance or door access machines. And if they type the keywords associated with your products, would they find you? And, if they don’t, would they find your competition instead?

So, the question is, what would be the keywords that come to mind when they want to look for information related to the products that you offer. 

It’s easier to think that everything happens by chance but the reality is not as ideal as that. Search engines have their own unique way to spot you amongst the rests. Though the process is not as simple, the idea is. Scatter the keywords all over your websites, let the robots notice the keywords and bring the information back to the search engine. The more abundant the keywords, the higher the chance of being found. And the best way to pepper these keywords is to do it in your contents! Create content that is rich in keywords and you might just become famous in the Internet. 

Search engine optimization is an investment of commitment and time. The result would not be instant but it’s beneficial and cost effective in the long run. 

Starting from today, I’m urging FingerTec resellers who have websites to intentionally use keywords like fingerprint, time attendance system, biometrics, door access system, etc in articles and websites related to FingerTec. We might create wonder by doing it together. 

What say you?

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ

User Generated Content: Ingenious Strategy or Simply Insane?

We are going back and forth on this idea of letting customers discuss about our brand freely in the social channels and new media. On one hand, we are excited to find out what’s being said about the brand, on the other we have a great amount of fear that the move would bring a colossal disaster to the brand we’ve spent years building. Every product has its weak points and if these points are stressed too much, would they affect the brand adversely? 

Considering what I’ve read and known, user generated content or UGC has an impactful influence on customer’s decision-making process. From a trivial buy like movie tickets to a more significant purchase like buying a car or booking a vacation, other customer’s opinions matter. Moviegoers swear by Rottentomatoes reviews; anything that is less than 60-70% average user rating would not entice them to catch the movie. Recently, when I wanted to buy my first Kitchen Aid, I Googled about the machine, contemplating the good, the bad, the ugly before making any decisions five days later. When it is very easy to get opinions from people who have bought and experienced the products, the decision-making process is very much influenced by those (opinions). Even when it involves buying a new apartment or a new car for example, the owners’ say matter in addition to opinions from experts. 

Now, control is very important when it comes to leaving the floor to the audience to discuss about your brand. If it’s not controlled properly, it could do more harm than good. How are we making sure that the competitors are not contributing to the discussions and dropping vindictive remarks along the way? Are the ones who provide the comments users of the product or just random visitors whom based on their experience with other similar products want to vent their frustrations? 

One thing for sure, contributors do not like to be deleted or denied an opinion if you have comment removal as part of the plan. So long as the comments are fair and not overbearing or breaking any laws, it should be permitted to appear on the sites. Presence of some negative comments also provide consumers with a feeling of trust in the genuineness of the feedbacks. Nonetheless, when the control is favoring the supplier too much, consumers are not getting the real picture of the brand. The question is, how to let go without losing control?

Whatever the issues are, we’ve got to start. When the online market is available 24/7 all year long, somehow or other the brand is going to get discussed somewhere. If we are not opening any channels to know what’s being said about us, the discussions are still going on, the brand is still being discussed over conversations and we miss the opportunity to listen and improve on our products and services. 

FingerTec is looking into incorporating UGC in our websites. One key to successfully letting go of the control to the user is to start small and manageable. Another is to be responsive and ready to engage and address consumer’s concerns. When we’ve gained enough experience, perhaps we could attempt something complex. In the meantime, let us start with baby steps towards acquiring UGC. 

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ

New Media -- You Are What You Write?

Content is King said Bill Gates some 12 years ago and I concur. And true enough content is much more urgent in the new media now than ever with the flooding of smart phones, tablets and digital devices the world over. A friend of mine bought a Playbook and couldn’t stop cursing it for the lack of contents; she ended up using the Playbook as a digital photo frame placed in the bedroom. The demand for interesting apps grew spectacularly when the iPad and Galaxy Tab were introduced into the market. Google and Wiki has become common terms to mean looking for information in the Internet. Though not all information gathered via Google is reliable, it provides vast amount of information from various sources. 

When Steve Jobs passed away, the news hit the world like a storm, everybody tweeted the about it, Facebook walls were filled with condolences, blogs started talking about the great man he was, news portals filled with stories about him. Contents about Steve Jobs were churned and dug swiftly to satisfy the audience who were waiting to read more about the man who gave more meaning to the letter ‘i’ . The world literally stopped to announce his passing and I’m pretty sure “Steve Jobs” was the top Google search word the next couple of weeks following the news. 

Probably the most searched and displayed photo for the past two weeks

Nowadays, news is not lagged anymore. It’s all realtime. I was so shocked to read the tweet that Guiliana Rancic, my favorite E! News newscaster, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer when she was going for fertility treatment. And I received the news the same time the Americans did. The news drove people to search for information about breast cancer and its possible treatments. 

When news is literally at your fingertips, you are indeed what you write. People tend to believe what’s being written out there. As celebrities, it’s impossible to shy away from all the publicity irrespective of the truth but as a brand of a product, you can create and recreate your brand’s image away. 

Audiences relate through actual experience, real participation. Renowned brands like Adidas and Nike promote healthy lifestyles by organizing marathons and sports related events, inviting interested groups to talk about in the social media and the new media. Cosmetics like Elizabeth Arden highlight cancer awareness by printing the logo on the product packaging. Timberland, an active outdoor sports brand stresses on the importance of recycling with the introduction of their Earthkeepers line that use recycled materials for shoes.

What’s your brand’s cause? What does your brand stand up for? Apart from placing importance on the products, people relate better with causes and real participations. And while you are at that, write away and improve that brand’s image simultaneously.

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ

Everybody Needs To Do A Noodle Dance!

Anybody who has kids that watch Disney channel would know what is a Noodle Dance. When PB & J otter stumble upon a problem, they would do a Noodle Dance to find the answer, and all the cute little kids around the world would dance with them to find the solution. And at the end of the dance, they would find the answer and everybody will end up being happy. The dance was created to promote rational thinking in kids.

But, what about us, adults? If one thinking process is equivalent to one Noodle dance, how many times do we Noodle dance a day?

Technology has made our life simpler but it shouldn’t make our society dimmer. One fine day and this is a true story, I asked a fellow colleague a ‘tricky’ question. What is the sum of 3x3+3? She thought for a while before grabbing her calculator and giving me the answer very slowly like she was second guessing herself. What have we become? A simple equation like 5+5 also requires an iPhone 4’s calculator to answer. We rely too much on Wikipedia, we chat with too much nonsense and short forms on social media and in the process of all these, we refuse to think.

We can’t separate thinking from our lives. Ideas make the world interesting and ideas, no matter how small, is never trivial. Thinking process and rational thinking are very important in building a healthy society and a healthy company. Physical exercise is always emphasized on these days, but what about mental excersize?

At FingerTec, we even have a channel for employees to submit any new ideas in return for a monetary reward.  We want to create a culture where thinking processes is not only relevant to the top management; it should be relevant to all levels. The questions include how to make our work better and contribute more to the progress of the company and the brand we are working for.  A logistic staff could contribute ideas concerning the packaging process, to reduce the time taken to prepare all items and to reduce the transportation costs for our clients. Work process could be made simpler and better when thinking processes take place.

Whenever a question is thrown at you, the worst answer you could give is “I don’t know” This shows the level of commitment you have into something you do and how you refuse to use your brain in the process.

When we were younger, our parents did their best to make sure that we have the best brain in the world. Sadly, as we grow up, we tend to forget to use this very capable organ to better our lives.

So, what say you if we do the Noodle dance whenever you are stuck with a problem? 

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ