Corporate Blogging: A New Marketing Communication Tool for Companies

Posted by Xingpei


That is a known fact that blogging is not just for individuals. Corporate blogs that utilize their reach to promote their products and businesses started to gain popularity among people, and thus, blog has emerged as one of the low cost and high return – the best marketing tool on the web. Blogging has given a new way for the marketers to interact with possible customers and clients – Promote! If you know how to maximize marketing opportunities through your blog, it can be one of the best marketing tools you will be hiding in your tool box.

Tool for Improving Visibility

A blog will require you to create content and update regularly with information. Quality content is usually linked by other bloggers. If an entrepreneur launches a new business idea and if it is good it will be linked by most bloggers and will be the talk of town. This will definitely help you to gain better placement in search engines and increases your visibility.

Tool for Building Customer Loyalty

The interactive aspects of blogs stimulate exchange and incite Internet users to return regularly to follow the discussion and even participate. Moreover, the important feature of blog is that it allows you to receive instant feedback and reviews on your products or your business. This rapid and instant feedback will help you tweak and respond better to the market you are trying to target. You can get feedbacks within minutes after publishing a post.

Tool for Promoting Events or Ad Campaigns

In 2003, Nike launched the first major campaign using a blog. For 20 days prior to the official launch of a new ad campaign, Nike invited Internet users to share their opinions about the works of 15 young filmmakers exploring the theme of “the art of speed.” This concept is also being applied for album and movie launches, or to encourage discussion following tradeshow. So, advertising is FREE with blog and you can save great advertising and media release cost. Now, that is marketing at its best and your blog helps you do that.

The chart above shows some of the organizations that are at the forefront of the corporate blogging wave. In addition to the big corporate names and the bloggers at companies involved in the blogging space, there are a large number of individual consultants, small business owners, and individuals which fill the “other” category. These are people who are blogging about what is going on at their businesses.


Corporate Blogs of McDonalds and Intel

Even though some of the largest technology companies are represented in this graph, it shows that we are still at the relative start of accepted use of blogging as a part of corporate policy - and that there is still a tremendous opportunity for forward-thinking companies and management to have a significant positive impact on their public perception by encouraging an enlightened blogging policy, encouraging openness both within and outside of the organization.

References:

http://marketinghackz.com/the-importance-of-blogs-in-business-and-marketing/

http://www.adviso.ca/en/using-blogs-as-a-marketing-tool.html

E-Government in Malaysia: Its Implementation So Far and Citizen's Adoption Strategies

Posted by Qi Ying

E-Government is the use of e-commerce to provide access to government information, services and interacts with people to increase efficiency, convenience and accessibility of public sector services to individuals, business partners and its internal operation.

The Implementation of E-Government

The implementation of electronic government (E-Government) started with the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian government in 1996. The implementation of e-Government in Malaysia heralds the beginning of a journey of reinventing the government by transforming the way it operate, modernising and enhansing its service delivery. Similtaneously, it will improve information flow and processess within the government , improve the speed and quality of policy development and improve coordination and enforcement. This would enable the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

There are seven E-Government Application Flagship introduced in MSC. It includes:

  1. Electronic Procurement (eP) www.eperolehan.gov.my
  2. Project Monitoring System (PMS)
  3. Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)
  4. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
  5. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
  6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX) http://www.elx.gov.my/
  7. E-Syariah http://www.esyariah.gov.my

The implementation of e-government services will bring benefit to the public, businesses and the government itself. As for the public, saving time and oney are the primary reasons to use the e-government services. Government should market the offers, improve citisen’s awareness of benefits and increase take-up of online services to ensure the success of e-government implementation.

Citizen's Adoption Strategies

Generally, new technologies are forcing governments to be particularly considerate to time. Nowadays, Citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour. Therefore, governments all over the world are developing information systems and electronic services that have the capacity to meet the needs and demands of the citizens and other clients. E-Services form an emerging field, which is rapidly gaining attention and importance. Success in delivering electronic services depends upon the capability and self-confidence of citizens in performing e-transactions, as well as their trust and confidence in the protection of their personal data within an open and accountable government.

References:

http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-egov.pdf

http://www.archives.go.jp/news/pdf/MrShaidin2.pdf

http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

Posted by Qiau Hui

Internet auction fraud is a growing epidemic worldwide, as online shopping has grown significantly every year that online shopping has been available. 51,000 cases of internet fraud cases were reported in 2002. In 2006, that number ballooned to 97,000. The numbers are staggering, but everyone can lower their risk by knowing what auction fraud is, how to detect it, and how to prevent falling for it.

Most internet auction fraud cases involve straightforward scams where consumers allegedly win merchandise by being the highest bidder. All sounds good until they send the payment and never receive the merchandise.

Below are some tips on keeping your risk at a minimum when purchasing items from an online auction website:
· Understand as much as you can about how the internet auctions work, what your obligation are as a buyer, and what the seller’s obligations are before you bid. If you can’t find anything out about the seller, than avoid doing business with them. Never fall for promises of better deals by moving away from the original auction website.

· To avoid unexpected cost, you must read the information in the listing about shipping and handling fees carefully. If not specified, you may want to clarify before you start bidding.

· Do not simply disclose your personal data – if you see e-mail messages from someone you do not know that ask you for personal data for examples, credit card number, account number, or password, do not just send the data without knowing more about who is asking.

· Review the feedback rating for the seller, and use common sense; if the seller has a history of negative feedback, then the participants do not bid with the particular seller.

· Always save 100% of the transaction information and must ask the seller when delivery can be expected if not specified in the listing, and about warranty, exchange or return of merchandise you find unsatisfactory.

· When giving your credit card details or your debit account details at a website, check that the Internet connection you are using is secure. Look for the lock at the bottom or https (an‘s’ appended to ‘http’) in the address field of your browser. These indicate that the connection is a secure one.

· Be aware of phishing. Verify that you are receiving emails from the correct source and that you are logging in at the correct website.

· When making payment, prefer using your credit card over online transfer. Using a credit card give you the opportunity of a chargeback in case the transaction turns out a fraud. Use debit card, wire transfer, or money order only when you completely trust the seller.

· If the seller wants you to use an escrow service you’ve never heard of, look into it. Check out the website. Call up customer support. Contact us to digg up data on the business in question. If you can’t confirm the legitimacy, don’t use it.

References:
http://www.onlineguards.com/topics/onlineauctionfraud.aspx
http://www.crimcheck.com/background-check-news/whats-internet-auction-fraud-and-how-do-i-prevent-it
http://ecommercesite.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/things-to-take-note-to-prevent-e-auction-fraud-when-a-consumer-participating-in-an-e-auction/

Review a Local E-commerce Site : Lelong.com.my

Posted by Pit Ei

A local e-commerce site that I want to review is Malaysia’s largest online auction website (http://www.lelong.com.my). It is an auction platform that provides people to buy and sell things online, with 6,000 to 8,000 items listed at any one time.

The background of this site is white because white background can prominent the products and make it easier for us to view the products. From the homepage, we already can see there are different types of products and the prices displayed at the center of the web page and there are a lot of advertisements listed at the both sides of the web page.



The search engine locates at the top of the web page which allows you to type the name or brand of the product that we want and select the category of your product and then click "Search". It will link us to another page to show all the results of the product that we want.



After choosing the product that we want, we must sign in to our own registered account and then we have two choices to buy that product - we can bid with others who have the same interest of the product or we can contact the auctioneer and negotiate for a lower price. Before we bid or buy the product, we should view the auctioneer's profile and rating, check the auctioneer's trade history and feedback, so that we are more confident to trade with the auctioneer and avoid unnecessary fraud case.



If we win in the auction or buy the product, we must follow the auctioneer's Payment Method (eg. Maybank/Maybank 2U, Bank Transfer/ TT/ Cash on Collection). The product will ship to us only when the payment is made successfully.

For those that never try to do online auction before, what are you waiting for? Check it out now!

Reference:
http://www.lelong.com.my/