a groovyweb

I had an enjoyable chat over coffee with Anol and Josh from B2Bento last evening. Among other topics, we spoke and debated about how ‘social media’ can be an organisational tool to encourage employees to be advocates of their employer’s brand. I got stumped over a few tough questions, but nothing is more enjoyable than intellectual stimulation.

Among Anol’s many questions, one particularly touched the very foundation of my arguments for enhancing social connectivity in the workplace. Here it is, paraphrased.

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Sometime in 2006, I started to frequent a Malay barber guy in Race Course Road, close to where I used to live on Petain Road. Operating out of a shop underneath a HDB block, the joint has probably seen better days; it is now sparse and functional. Three of them (all in their 50s) worked out of the same premises and it took me a while to get comfortable with one particular guy. Other than being cheap (SG$8 per trim), a haircut at the barber gets the job done quickly and efficiently, none of the fussiness of the salon and its army of stylists.

My Malay barber’s a quiet man. Apart from pleasantries, Vespa stories and the weather, we hardly got personal. But all the same, my sessions with this guy had been very pleasant. We had a well-established, mutually-beneficial relationship. His colleagues knew that and respected this relationship well to never court me to sit in their chairs, even if the place was swarmed. I was this guy’s regular and loyal customer.

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Being the avid foodies that we are, the wife and I are always on the lookout for new food joints to satisfy our cravings. Our problem is, being Muslims, finding halal establishments in Singapore can be quite a challenge. The halal foodie depends heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations, googling the Web and physical ‘stumbleupons’ to discover new food places (sometimes food blogs such as ‘Yok Makan!’ offers great recommendation). But most times though, halal food places remains top of our Google search list.

Not for much longer though. The mobile web will save us all.

Introducing BuUuk: The Mobile Foodie App

Things have gotten easier since we discovered BuUuk for our Android phones (Nexus One FTW BTW). BuUuk is a restaurant guide utility application available for free on the iPhone App Store and also for phones running on Android (get it from Android Market on your phone or click this to dowload .apk file and install). Interestingly, BuUuk is a homegrown, Singapore-made product and has also been featured on CNN Go’s list of ‘11 Crucial iPhone Travel Apps’.

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When Jason Parker wrote to ask if he could use an academic work of mine for his Social Media appreciation class at the University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies, I was thrilled. It also dawned upon me that social media is certainly worth all that time and effort.

How did Jason, Adjunct Professor at University of Chicago and Planning Director at Leo Burnett and quite possibly on the exact opposite of the world, discover ‘Role of Social Media in Contemporary Marketing’, an ‘obscure’ literature review I had completed only last September?

Social media.

And how did I make that happen?

Social media.

I had sowed ample digital opportunities where Jason and others could have found this piece of work. And this is how I did it.

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I think we have to agree that traditional offline marketing is still a crucial business initiative even in today’s consumer markets. As much as I am a huge advocate of bringing people online and influencing through great online content and virtual social interaction, digital alone will not cut it. Going out there with road shows, direct marketing with flyers and sales promotions are still expected by the buying public, most especially in Singapore (Great Singapore Sale, anyone?)

Which is great for the economy, especially in the current slumpish conditions. But unfortunately, most businesses want to fast track the route to cash. ‘What is the fastest way to push stock and goods?’ ‘Which shopping season will reap the most money for us?’ Hence, the customer neglect.

Segment and predict the market, yes. Understand the market, NO!

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I am almost finished setting up this blog and happy to welcome you to my new domain!

Why I Went Self-Hosted?

I felt constrained being on the WordPress.com platform at http://groovygenie.wordpress.com, although it is a simple and easy to use blogging platform. The inability to customise themes or add plugins to WordPress.com really felt punishing and suffocated the geek in me. I had to break free!

Web Analytics is Dope

But most importantly, I would like to deepen my learning in web analytics and the only way to do this is to have control over my blog, this blog. I see this as a worthwhile investment, got to walk the talk, baby!

Vanity is Evil

Then again, a really nice URL to call my own is pretty sweet as well! I am using Host Gator for my hosting needs. Highly recommended by tweeples.

Well, things have been going swimmingly well so far, so if anyone need some pointers on setting up your self-hosted WordPress, I am happy to share! Drop me a mail or tweet me anytime.

So I welcome you to the new A GroovyWeb by Isman Tanuri! Do stick around ya’ll!

Yours sincerely,

The Groove Master

Here is something I received last Saturday morning, what I termed as ‘Door Spam’, leaflets/flyers stuck on the front door grille. It is a leaflet for a condominium development. Which one? I really can’t say. This is the second time I have received this leaflet. I cringed both times.

Observe for a moment. What is wrong with this leaflet?

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Updated 13/11: This post also appears as a guest blog post on Penn Olson.

I was recently reading an early chapter of Al and Laura Ries’ ‘The Origin of Brands’ and was struck by this concept:

The world’s best and long-lasting brands were typically created by a divergence from an existing product category and that these brands continue to survive not because of their ‘share of market’ but for being first in the mind of consumers.

Consider these examples of divergence and its disregard for market size of the day:

• What was the size of the cola market the day Coca Cola was launched?
• What was the market size of Mac users when Apple launched their Apple I system?
• How about the size of the personal computer market the day Microsoft launched their MS-DOS platform?
• And when McDonald first introduced the fast-food hamburger to the American public, what was the size of the fast-food market?

The answer to these questions: Zero.

However, these brands have proven they have what it takes to survive and prosper all these years. So, why is this possible?
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