There are about 10-12 sites I visit regularly in the morning. One is Facebook. There are about 5 resource sites I need to go through to get updated with what I do at work. I go through about 3-4 personal blogs as well. I visit Pep.ph everyday too. That pretty much leaves Inquirer.net as the only local site that I visit everyday (I can live without a TV now because of this). Where does Spot.ph fall?

For me at least, the frequency has gone up from zero to weekly, and that is saying a lot. Though Lourd de Veyra is awesome, he is not the main reason Spot is what it is now.

1. Here’s your Top 10 -  Nothing spells recipe for success more than numbered lists. If I were to point out just one reason for coming back to Spot, it would have to be Spot’s regular Top 10 features. They’re hilariously entertaining, and socially relevant. The visuals they use remind me of the collage that Esquire uses in its table of contents. What’s not to love about that.
2. Give it to me fast - Anything and everything on Spot takes no more than a few minutes to read. To put it in magazine terms, this is any site’s cover test. Short and concise articles are the way to go.
3. I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere - Within a few hours of ANY comment-worthy issue, Spot is able to post something about it. It gives me the impression that if I want to be updated, I don’t always have to go to Inquirer.net first.
4. Share me! – I know it has become standard to put share buttons on any site, but going back to my first point, an article or feature isn’t worth sharing if it’s going to take me half an hour to read through it. If you think about it, this is the only social media strategy they needed. I love the large comment counts on every post too.

Going back to my original review of the Spot.ph, all I ever wished for was for the site to make sense (those humongous ads, although compliant to online ad standards, destroyed the whole browsing experience). All they needed to make sure of was for an 8-9 year old to be able to navigate through the site.

Spot.ph has done this, and so much more.

I’m no fan of city guides. For one, I think social networking sites are more than enough to keep me informed about events that I should be attending or restaurants I should be trying. If you had to assign me to a persona, I would fall into the I-only-visit-the-site-for-movie-schedules category. I’m not saying that city guides are useless, I’m just saying that I do not need them.

About two years ago, I wrote a short piece on Spot.ph, one of Summit Media’s first forays into the city guide landscape. Two things drove me to write about it. One was because I used to work there, and since I left, I’ve always believed that they would never ever release a lackluster product. Second, and even more notable, the site was a collaboration between Summit and the new media division of GMA 7.

The second point is more interesting because content has always been a key driver when launching a media product. And anytime one of the largest TV networks in the country has your back, you know content is something you will never have a shortage of. Because of the tie-up, Summit gained better access to the news worthiest of personalities, events, and of course, multimedia content.

These benefits however, were more apt for Spot’s sister site, PEP. The Spot.ph of 2008 was too reliant on user generated information, that it forgot about the basics of simple usability. You can no longer see the old Spot on Wayback Machine, but believe me, it was a mess.

In the two years since I wrote about the site, a lot of my own perceptions about city guides have changed, along with the dynamics that make a site “sociable”. So too have the people in Spot.ph changed. In my succeeding post, you will see how these people have proven that you don’t have to talk about celebrities in order to engage your audience.

What a transformation it has been.

Even until today, it’s an uphill challenge trying to sell an idea that has nothing to do with traditional media. Once you’re done with all the convincing, you’ll be facing an even bigger challenge — finally deciding what you want to do. During this whole process, have you ever asked yourself if your target market is ready for whatever you’re going to dish out?

I was on my way to the office today when I heard a radio plug about Medicol’s “Winning Board” campaign.

One thing I like about this, is that they go through a very detailed data collection process. One common mistake companies make when trying to run an Internet Marketing initiative, is they always use a shotgun approach (Putting as many of their banners on other high traffic sites in hopes of generating visitors). Though the value to it may not be felt now, companies should start collecting data from their consumers.

Now we can go to the negatives.

• The campaign’s value proposition is not compelling enough – Medicol tied up with JobsDB to advertise “The most winning job of the day”. If I were looking for a job, I would go straight to Jobstreet or JobsDB instead.
• The campaign’s attempt to become social is half-baked – Aspiring entrepreneurs would rather share their ideas in more established forums such as Pinoyexchange or Entrepeneur Philippines. The E-buddy and MyAyala integration are also weak. As for the user interface, let’s just say I’d rather use Sandbox.
• Last, and certainly not the least, the Wordpress interface will not be for everyone – After having spent 10 minutes browsing the site, I still do not understand why I would need Wordpress to browse through the site posts and comments. It feels like a case of let’s put this in there just so we can keep up with the times.

While the attempt at running an online campaign to promote the brand is admirable, I feel like the campaign just has too many elements that the Filipino consumer isn’t ready for. In all honesty Medicol should have just come up with a killer Facebook fan page. At least people would know how to use that.

]]> http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/18/is-your-target-market-web-savvy-enough/feed/ 0 http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/11/the-first-real-signs-of-e-commerce-in-the-philippines/ http://www.alvinjimenez.info/2010/04/11/the-first-real-signs-of-e-commerce-in-the-philippines/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:12:06 +0000 admin http://www.alvinjimenez.info/?p=352 Filipinos are slowly and surely embracing the concept of E-commerce. More than random Multiply product pages, packed Facebook Fan Pages or localized versions of the bigger online retailers in the US, what we haven’t seen are local sites with the whole package. While there are other sites that have potential, Island Rose has been fairly successful in proving that an online business can survive. What about local offline businesses that have decided to transition part of their business online?

You’d be surprised at what Toby’s Sports has been able to do in the past few months.

I’m talking about SEO friendly pages, a working product review system, a recommendation engine, a full-blown email marketing program, and social media presence. Though the pages are far from perfect, there isn’t anything on the Toby’s site that can’t be improved on experience. Kudos to the management of Toby’s Sports for taking the jump.

A more detailed review soon to follow.

I think I’ve said my piece about the implications of spending for “equipment” when it comes to a person’s fitness. What I didn’t realize when I purchased my Nikeplus sensor about a month ago, was how exceptional Nike’s marketing ploy was. Not only did they succeed in upselling themselves (to me at least), they managed to create a well supported social media effort with their gear.

With Nike+ running shoes and a Nike+ iPod Sport Kit or Sensor, your iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPhone 3GS will motivate you mile after mile.

The following are some of the things I like about the Apple-Nike partnership.

1. They’ve encourage more people to run – Both Apple and Nike have succeeded in tapping the gadget freak (in other words, those who didn’t run but now do because of Nikeplus)
2. They’ve learned from the mistakes of others – Nike has learned a lot from Adidas’ mistake with the Adidas One. You don’t need a piece of overpriced (and useless) technology to reel in the consumer.
3. They make people feel good about their purchase – Though I got my 2nd gen Ipod touch as a gift, I was glad to see that it already supported Nike+. No need for that bulging transmitter. Same goes for the Nike+ ready shoes.

The convenience of tracking your runs online and sharing with the world? Pure genius.

Case in point — the Nike + Human Race

On 24.10.09, join runners from around the world and run a 10k from anywhere and any time using Nike+. Get registered, grab your Nike+ gear and start training.

I don’t know what you’ll get out of it other than idea of running with people around the globe, but what the hell, it’s one of the best worldwide marketing gimmicks I’ve ever seen been a part of (if that’s what you want to call it). Offline support, in-store merchandising, online buzz, you name it, it has been done. The idea of personalizing your avatar on Nikeplus and being able to accessorize depending on the kilometers you’ve accumulated is a cool touch. Now if only they can fit a hear rate monitor into their equation…

Now to log on those kilometers so I can proudly put my profile on my Facebook account.

*I’m going to earn my 10k during Adidas’ King of the Road next weekend. How ironic is that?

Working for a company that also has its call center operations in-house has it perks. It gives you the capability to experiment with different cross-channel initiatives. Though I am only involved in our company’s online operations, I am sometimes called upon to assist in different offline projects. In the process, I am able to gain a holistic view of how an online and offline campaign can go definitely wrong. Or right.

My first topic? How about the Philippine Airlines Real Deal promo nightmare I had to go through the other day.

Let me point out all of the things Philippine Airlines did wrong.

1. Bandwidth. Bandwidth. Bandwidth. - They sure had none of it on those promo dates. Unless they’ve run the same promo before, Philippine Airlines should have prepared for the unique visits they were going to get that night.
2. Ignore manpower issues - 30-minute waits for the lucky few who get through? Customer service is still a lot better than no customer service at all.
3. Lack of offline support - I heard Philippine Airlines ran a few ads in newspapers a day before the promo dates. Because of item #’s 1 and 2, they shouldn’t have.

Though Cebu Pacific’s regular Seat Sale is a tough act to follow, the Gokongwei owned company has been doing it long enough for most of their main competitors to end up doing the same. If you run any promo, and it makes a thousand people happy, but ends up making ten thousand decide not to patronize your service again, what will you do?

Consumer loyalty in this sector is one of the most important concerns any airline should try to improve and invest in. Henry Sy sure has his work cut out for him.