That's a wrap!!

It's the end of the 2nd semester at Monash University (where I study) and that also means that it's my last post on this blog this semester. Looking back at 3 months ago, I am quite surprise that I decided to take the Blog Assessment and the Video Assessment since I have never written a blog nor create a video before. This has been a great and valuable lesson for me that I can go out and tell people about my experience!

It all started when I posted my my first blog entry ever on the beginning of August explaining the purpose of this blog and meaning behind the blog name. Since then, it's all about how companies could use different types social medias to the fullest and how to maximise their opportunity in the digital marketing era.

1. Facebook: the most popular digital marketing platform on earth. Gotta have it! (see my examples of companies that are doing it well and badly).
2. Youtube: make it viral! Top celebrities on Youtube such as Lady Gaga (here's the prove) and Justin Bieber (this is why) have successfully utilize Youtube to communicate with its fans very effectively.
3. Twitter: the new "It" guy on social media. Below is the video I created as part of this Electronic Marketing subject that I'm doing, explaining how Twitter can be used in business.

I am sure there are plenty other examples that I have not blogged about. Companies have so many choices to communicate their brands online. However, they should choose the most appropriate media to use and deliver meaningful and attractive contents to the public. And to get even stronger effect to the marketplace, businesses use integrated approach in combining different social medias.

They can build a website with links to their Facebook page (where customers can interact with the brand and with each other), Twitter account (to post short comments out there), and Youtube channel (create a video to be shared). Possibilities are out there in the future, facilitated by the rapid technology advancement and more and more people can get easy and cheaper access to the internet.

Finally, companies are able to monitor their online performance using
 whether it's a blog, Youtube channel, Facebook page, website, etc.
Google Analytics reported on statistical data of the visitors, which can be used to improve the overall performance of the site if analyzed properly (as I did here and here).

Wanna be the next Youtube star??

When I first heard about Youtube I thought that it's a great website to watch a huge range of different videos. Either home video, recorded from TV, music videos, etc.

However I didn't expect that people can make money from Youtube (as more and more people do nowadays). The example is not only organizations posting videos to build awareness by creating buzz, but there are people making and posting videos to generate income.

Even once upon a time, Justin Bieber was only a little boy who happened to post videos of him singing on Youtube, before finally discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, the former marketing executive of So So Def. Later on, Bieber was signed by Braun and Usher's (who is now became Bieber's mentor) recording company and became the most searched person on Google not long ago. Also, his "Baby" music video is the most watched Youtube video with over 300 million views!

By the time he did his first appearance on TV, Justin Bieber has got millions of loyal Youtube fans already. Not that I'm a fan of him, but I do appreciate him - apparently he's not just a boy trying to sing songs that are not quite age-appropriate, I suppose.

Youtube could also be a platform for companies to broadcast their message to reach their target audience. However, not every company did it successfully. Try not to post video that deliberately expose the brand and ask the audience to buy it. The traditional 30-second TV ad method is not going to work here. Instead, try to communicate the philosophy and meaning of your brand that has valuable intrinsic value for audiences. Also, publish a new video regularly and consistently to create presence and relationship with the audiences who are waiting for the next video posts.

How many people visited my blog??

About 2 months ago in my Electronic Marketing lecture, my lecturer touched on a topic about Google Analytics and how it generates a detailed statistical report on website visits. Basically if you created a website and installed Google Analytics on your page, you are able to track the activities in your website. Whether how many people visit the page, what did they do there, and most importantly it helps you analyse the performance of your website!

I thought it would be a great idea to try it on my blog, so I tried it on my blog as an experiment. As I promised on my previous post, at the end of this semester I'm going to present the report on my blog performance. (Here's what I blogged about Google Analytics - I'm with Google Analytics!)

The following information is taken from 1st of September 2010 up to today (14th October 2010).

Overall:

• there were 213 pagevisits to my blog with the total of 52 different visitors
• Each person out of those 52 people visited 2-3 pages per visit on average (some may only visited 1 most recent post, some may visit another pages while they were still in the website)

Which blog post has the most visits?

• My blog about Cebu Pacific cabin crew dancing received the most visits (43 visits)! This could be because I posted the link to this blog on my Facebook page and has video in it. =D
• It seems that the more recent blog posts got more attention. The shameless self-promotion through Facebook and Twitter played big roles here.

Where did the visitors come from?

When I first found out that I could check where did my visitors come from, I originally thought that most of them would come from Moodle and Facebook (since I recently posted link to my post on my Facebook page as well). For those who didn't know what Moodle is, it's a webpage for Electronic Marketing students at Monash where our blogs are posted on the homepage of the website and the top 10 most recent blogs will be shown at the top of the page.

Based on the statistics below, Facebook is the main traffic source to my blog (this I'm not surprised). However, (sadly) there were actually only 8 visits generated from Moodle page! Since I honestly just clicked on blog titles that are most appealing to me, I guess this means that the titles of my post were not attractive enough to gain visits from students visiting Moodle homepage. =(

Where in the world did my blog visitors come from?

As you see above, almost 70% of total visits come from Australia. Followed 2nd by Singapore with 16 visits and Indonesia with 4 visits.

I was a bit surprised that I got visits from US, France, and South Korea. But then again, they spent 0 second on my blog with 100% bounce rate (they immediately exited from the page), so that was apparently not a good thing haha..

So...

According to these data from Google Analytics, my blog posts gained more visits since I posted the link on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. So, try posting your blogs on social medias to avoid talking to a crowded room with no one pays attention. However, since only 8 visits in total from Moodle page I think I need to pick titles that are attractive to compete with other blogs posted on Moodle.

Anyone doing Google Analytics as well? Feel free to share your performance analysis here, since the end of this semester is approaching very soon..

Cabin Crew safety demonstration using Lady Gaga's Just Dance!

Did you think that airlines safety demonstrations are boring? I did. But one innovative way to deliver the message in a fun way was done by Cebu Pacific Air (Philippines-based low-cost airline). They did not have any difficulties in teaching passengers how to use their seat belts properly and pointing the emergency exits by dancing along with Lady Gaga's hit "Just Dance" and also Katy Perry's "California Gurls". View the video below!

It was reported that a passenger recorded the whole demonstration and posted it on Youtube-with almost half million views! It also caught media's attention-The Daily Telegraph and The Australian had reported the news. The Vice President of Marketing at Cebu Pacific Airlines, Candice Iyog, said "Cebu Pacific has always been known as a fun airline, we wanted to get the message across to our customers that flight safety doesn't have to be boring."

In my view, their fun way of demonstrating safety rules has not only create excitement and buzz around the passengers and viewers. By running this video viral, Cebu Pacific has gained more awareness of the brand than ever. At least I know that there is a Philippines-based airline named Cebu Pacific and "Fun" is their philosophy. 


Do you think they were doing a great job at engaging passengers attention to the safety demonstration? Should they continue to do this in each flight?