Social media-in-the-south-pacific

Social Media in the South Pacific:

It’s time to join the
conversation.
Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi
Oceanic Communications, Fiji

#web2pacific
Wednesday, October 24, 12

Thank you Anju. Good afternoon everyone. I have been asked to talk to you about a communications or advertising agency’s
perspective on social media.
Before I begin, for any Twitter users in the house. You can use this hashtag when you mention anything about this workshop.
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a
way to categorize messages.


Six months ago I gave birth to the cutest little boy (as his mother I’m allowed to be biased of course), and as a ﬁrst-time mum,
most parents here will agree that no matter how much you hear about what it is like from your own mothers and fathers, no
matter how many books you read about parenthood, nothing really prepares you for the magnitude of responsibility and
experiences you will encounter with your children. Both my husband’s mother and my mother were here to assist with our
ﬁrstborn, however one early morning it was just my partner and I on baby duty and our son kept crying and we just didn’t know
what to do. Can you guess what we did? Anyone?

We took out our iPhones and searched in Google.


Here’s what it was like before the internet, or before Google. Do you ﬁnd yourself ‘Googling’ when you have a particular
question that you cannot answer?


Can you still remember what it was like before the internet? Or before smartphones, Blackberries and iPhones? Before
Google, Facebook or Twitter?


Hands up if you update your Facebook status before going to the toilet every morning.


These things called the internet, the world wide web, online media, social media - their global reach is growing at an
astronomical pace. It is getting bigger, faster and more mobile each day. It has permeated our lives, so much so that we now
take it for granted. Most of us are consistently online these days, on our computers, on our phones. An entire economy is built
based on our browsing habits.


For our teenagers and younger people who are in their early 20‘s, they’ve never known life without the internet. Simply put,
the internet is a force to be reckoned with.

2,267,233,742
internet users

According to the World Internet Users and Population Statistics, on December 31, 2011, there are 2,267,233,742 internet
users. In 2005 there were 957,783,222. That number has more than doubled only after 6 years.

More than 23 million of these users come from Oceania and Australia. With Australia leading, then New Zealand, then Fiji.
Quite a small fraction compared to the rest of the world, but the numbers are growing very rapidly.

Fiji

18.4% of 883,125 people
162,880 users

2,071%

User growth is 2,071% from 2000-2011

New Caledonia

34.1% of 256,275 people
87,420 users

264.3%

User growth is 264.3%

Samoa

6.6% of 193,161 people
12,816 users

2,463.2%

User growth is 2,463.2%
2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks.

800+ million
Facebook users

800 million. Users on Facebook. If Facebook were a country it would be the third most populated in the world just below
China and India. One person out of 13 is on Facebook.

Fiji

188,620 users

28,700+
in the last 6 months


New Caledonia

103,560 users

9,980+


Samoa

19,920 users

7,700+


400 million
Tweets per day

400 million. The average number of tweets on Twitter per day.

30 million
followers

Fact: Lady Gaga is the most followed person to date on Twitter. According to the latest stats she has about 30 million
followers.


The trend is quite clear. The numbers are going up. And they are going up exponentially.

?
But what is the fuzz really all about? Why is all of this such a big deal? From a communications, marketing and advertising standpoint, what does this all mean? To
give you a clearer perspective on how powerful social media can be especially from our point of view, I have a short 2 minute video from Youtube for you.

Please take note that that video was done in 2010. The ﬁgures you saw are much higher now. I am not going to dwell now on why social media is huge. I believe it
is quite clear why it has become such a phenomenon.

People have a natural urge to add friends, to connect with others, we want to share our thoughts, to talk about ourselves, to be heard, to not feel alone and to
belong to a group. We are social beings and the quality of our lives are determined by our relationships.

Social media is about
technology.

So in essence, social media is not about technology,

advertising.

nor is it about advertising.

people.


Only 14% of people
trust advertising.
And 90% trust
recommendations
on social media.
From that clip, I want you to focus on this line: Only 14% of people trust advertising, and 90% trust recommendations on social media. For an advertising agency
like Oceanic, it is pretty obvious on what really works.

If you think about it, well who would you rather trust? Some company you don’t know? Or your Facebook friend?

Consumers are continuously bombarded with a lot of advertising messages and as a result they ﬁnd it very difﬁcult to sift through this media noise. It’s like that
game,

?
‘Where is Waldo?’ It can be so confusing. This is why consumers pay attention to what others have to say before buying anything. The more they trust the
recommendation, the more likely they will buy a product or try a service. I go to my hairdresser because she was referred to me by a good friend. When I order
books and baby stuff from Amazon, I read the reviews ﬁrst. When a friend of mine liked and talked about a resort on her Facebook status, I took note and visited
the place myself.

The most powerful and effective marketing has always been and continue to be word-of-mouth marketing. Even today, it is still the most inﬂuential driving element
in purchasing decisions. We know that people like to talk and they will either rant or rave to their friends about a good or a bad experience. Now add social media
in this mix. What do we have?

word-of-mouth
on steroids

With social media, the power of word-of-mouth marketing becomes ampliﬁed. It’s like word-of-mouth marketing on steroids. When I have a bad or good experience
with a product or service, now I won’t have to tell one friend at a time. I’ll just update my status on Facebook or Tweet about it and all my 1,329 friends can read
about it, comment, re-post and share to their other friends in real-time. Right now.

At Oceanic, we know how significant this information is. We started as a firm that focused on website design and development, online media and services. After a
year we expanded to also offer traditional media services and we became a full service communications agency. From then on, our approach has always been
based on our understanding, experience and belief in true integrated communications. This means, we develop creative and technical solutions and support that
are consistent and span from the printed page to the computer monitor, and our clients who utilise both parts understand the power of unified communications.

Some
examples.

Here are some local examples of integrated campaigns we have done for some of our clients.

We put QR codes on store materials so customers can use their smartphones and the codes took them straight to the website page with details. QR
Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code).

From our experience, businesses and organisations in the Paciﬁc have not fully harnessed the power of social media yet because of two things.

Firstly, fear. Many of them are afraid of negative criticisms and comments from unhappy and disgruntled customers which they feel will destroy their reputation.

Secondly, misconception. Some of those who have actually jumped on the social media wagon honestly believe that how they are using it is right but if they take a
step back, they will realise how badly they are doing it. The thing about online and social media is, just as big as it can be when used right, the ramiﬁcations are
also huge when used carelessly. It’s like a two-edged sword.

People.


For those organisations who are afraid of social media because it is very new to them or those who think they understand it yet misuse it, they must recognise two
things. Social media is about people. And it is about having a conversation with those people.

In order to be successful at using this medium to communicate to their customers, followers, fans or advocates, we must always remember this.

If your business or group has a social media proﬁle in Facebook or Twitter for example, your customers or advocates feel like they can talk to you. A person. Not a
company or a group. But a person. Then when they start a conversation with you, you have to really listen to them.

1
Here’s a good example.

Zappo’s is a leading online store in the US. The CEO of this company, including many other employees have active Twitter accounts. They engage with their
customers by keeping open lines of communication. In fact they use Twitter to generate over 1,200 conversations per month. Their Twitterers have their photos up
on their Twitter page so their customers know who they are talking to.

Zappo's Conversations uses Twitter's Streaming API to look for all the Tweets that mention @Zappos and @Zappos_Service. Tweets of conversations, questions,
and comments stream in and Zappos presents them on the Conversations website so others may read how Zappos is working to communicate with its fans and
customers and solve any issues or problems. Very open. When someone is unhappy, that is seen online. Their response and reaction is also seen online. Why do
they allow this do you think? Simple. By showing your dedication to work through these problems with your customers, they become even more loyal to you
because of your honesty and commitment. That is why we should not be afraid of those negative criticisms online. First, you’ll know what you are doing wrong, and
second, you have the opportunity to make it right.

2
A very good example of a successful integrated award-winning campaign is Tourism Queensland’s ‘The Best Job in the World’ campaign in January 2009.

The objective was simple: to create awareness and interest on Queensland tourism.

To meet this objective, the concept they came up with was quite brilliant. A competition where contenders must post a one-minute video application on Tourism
Queensland’s Web site explaining why you should be chosen as caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef and you might get to blog and cam your
way through a six-month gig that paid about $100K U.S.

So how did it go? Let’s ﬁnd out.

This is an example of a truly integrated campaign which utilised a range of channels. And I believe its consistency in both traditional or ofﬂine as we call it and
online media contributed to its success. Something for us to think about when creating our own communications strategies.

We are living in very fascinating times. Communication used to be mostly one-way before, but now, not only ‘the man’ can speak - everyone else can give their two
cents and join the conversation. There is so much we can do now.

At Oceanic, we continuously recommend using social media to be part of our clients’ communications plans.
And though Fiji and the rest of the South Paciﬁc (excluding Australia and New Zealand) are still a bit behind on this front, we are getting there.

3 2 1
It’s just a matter of time.

If you know how to best use and maximise social media, there is no need to be afraid of it. Imagine the possibilities.

Online and social media is changing the way we work,

The way we
work


The way we
learn


The way we
share


The way we
collaborate


The way we
live


Thank you.


Twitter: @i_am_ronna / @oceanicfiji
Website: www.iamronna.com / www.oceanic.com.fj
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/iamronna /
http://www.linkedin.com/company/oceanic-
communications
E-mail: ronna@oceanic.com.fj / info@oceanic.com.fj

#web2pacific

Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi
All images with the exception of slides 2, 37, 40-48 and 51 are sourced from Google.
Statistics are from www.internetworldstats.com and www.socialbakers.com


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