It’s just 28 more days to Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and Singapore, been the first country to host such a game is doing everything they can to promote this event. The two weeks event which starts from 14 Aug to 26 Aug, aims to inspire youth around the world to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.

The committee also hope that this event will create a lasting sports, culture and education legacy for Singapore and youths from around the world, as well as enhance and elevate the sporting culture locally and regionally.

With social media been the forefront of it’s marketing efforts, YOG community recently launched their own social networking site WhyOhGee!. Base onwhat I understand, the networking site features multimedia content produced by young people for young people, and aim to connect youths globally through the digital media site.

Features of the site includes integration of your social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc, forums, groups, pictures uploaded by users and athletics profiles which users can send their encouraging and supportive messages.

Besides WhyOhGee!, Singapore also launch a series of other digital media sites:

• Singapore 2010 Odyssey: A 3D virtual world featuring the venues and sports of YOG.

• Million Deeds Challenge: Be part of the Olympic movement through sharing deeds of Excellence, Friendship and Respect, and join a virtual torch relay in the process.

• Facebook: Official fanpage of YOG.

• Twitter: YOG Twitter account.

• YouTube: Videos produced for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

• Flickr: Photos for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Are they overdoing it?

Personally, I like their idea of having a community site (WhyOhGee!) where youths can get engaged and interact with each other before, during and after the games. I also understand their need of having Youtube, Facebook and Twitter as their satellite medium to reach out to youths. However, I do feel they are slightly overdoing it.

What I don’t understand is: Why do they need a Flickr account? What is the value of it? What is the purpose of having  a two additional digital platforms (Singapore 2010 Odyssey and Million Deeds Challenge) without the element of community building?

What do you think? Are they overdoing it?

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Click the image to see the full details

In collaboration with ThinkAccelerator Marketing, Expeditus Media is organizing a social media marketing workshop for all business owners.

This full day workshop aim to help business owners like yourself take your business online and exploit the growth of social media for your marketing in the year of the Tiger. Join us and find out how social media will affect you and your business in the future.

Workshop Highlights

• How to build a social media community around your brand or product
• Creating engaging content for your members to share
• Learn how to create a Word of Mouse Marketing campaign
• Develop and apply your strategies at the workshop

Members are advice to bring their laptop as we guide and show you through the strategies.

Workshop Details

• Date: 27th March Saturday
• 9am – 6pm
• Venue: KnowledgeConnection @ Suntec City
• Fee: $288 before 22nd March, (Usual Investment $488
• Email: engage@thinkaccelerator.com

Register now through this link: http://bit.ly/cSW13K

Want to find out what others say about us? pop by to Facebook and interact with us!

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Great news for all of you. I have just release 2 ebooks free for download. ‘Twitter Apps for Business‘ and ‘Facebook Apps for Business‘ are a compilations of 60+ apps for business owners and marketing professionals to leverage on and use. It is a list of  apps to enhance and save time when conducting business matters on these two popular social platforms.

We hope you can help us spread these ebooks to your business associates and benefit them too. I will be coming up with 2 more ebooks next month so till then, have fun with these apps.

If you have not gotten a copy of the ’300 Case Studies of Social Media Marketing’, head to our Free Resources and download it for FREE!

Do you have anything in mind? If it’s useful and beneficial for business owners and marketers, we will consider producing it and make it free for download. Also, if you want to get quality article about social media marketing, do subscribe to our Insider Newsletter by filling up your details on the right. Cheers!

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It seems like conducting survey is a trend now. Everyone I know are coming up with surveys to understand their target market. Therefore, to follow the crowd, I too have a survey I need you to help me with. ‘Challenges Marketers Face With Social Media‘ is a survey to find out more about what challenges you are facing with when it comes to social media. It also allows me to understand how I can design my programs to help you meet those challenges. So, please help me help yourself by giving me the answers to these questions. Thanks!

Challenges Marketers Face With Social Media

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With the Haiti disaster fresh in our minds, most organizations are now scrambling to bring as much aid as possible to the victims there. Many charity organizations are also creating social media sites to encourage people to donate and help as much as possible.

With so much going on in my Facebook about the disaster, how can I not be doing something right? Well, this post isn’t about how you can help (ok maybe a small part of it is), but I want to let you know why you should help, on top of that, I want to point you to the right direction too. The most significant part though, is for you to observe how social media tools have changed the way donations are been made and how lives can be changed from a click of the mouse. So let’s begin.

Where is Haiti?

The official name of the country is called Republic of Haiti. According to Wikipedia, it is a french speaking Caribbean country situated in Greater Antillean archipelago. They have a total mass area of 27,750 square km and they have a very unique history. For example, they are the first independent country in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion.

The Current State of the Country

Despite their glorious past, they are now one of the poorest country in Latin America. It’s nominal GDP is 7.018 billion USD (as of 2009) with a GDP per capita of 790 USD,  or about $2 per person per day. Since 2003, it’s estimated that about 80% of it’s 8.7 million people lives in poverty. The poverty was so bad that it had forced almost 225,000 children into slavery as unpaid household servants.

Their literacy rate was at 65%, one of the lowest in the region. The enrollment rate for primary school is 67%, and fewer than 30% reach 6th grade. Secondary schools enroll 20% of eligible-age children.

The Impact of Recent Earthquake

The recent earthquake was one of the biggest, with a measurement of 7.0M. Thereafter, there are about 14 aftershocks measuring between 5.0 – 5.9 M. The International Red Cross estimated that about 3 million Haitians were affected in the earthquake. Death toll by the Haitian officials state as many as 200,000 people dead.

The living conditions after the quake was even worse. It was reported that many people in Haiti slept in the streets, on sidewalks, in their cars because either their houses were destroyed or they are afraid that the building that are standing can’t withstand the aftershocks.

The slow distribution of resources after the disaster have also resulted in violence, as groups attempting to dispense food and other aid were attacked, including an attempted carjacking of aid vehicles. Some frustrated with the lack of aid made roadblocks out of bodies.

Here is a video of the aftermath by CBSNews

How You Can Help

Over at Mashable, you can find a list of legit organizations that are encouraging people to donate and help the poor and needy at Haiti. Be careful as there are also many callous individuals out there creating charity social sites that doesn’t benefit the people there.

You can also use Google’s crisis response page to response to the call of duty. Willis Wee of Penn-Olson have made a contribution and here is the screenshot that he made to show us how easy it is to lend a helping hand.

That’s about it. I hope this post can inspire and educate you but most importantly,make you take action. In this digital age, a click of a mouse can mean alot to the people in Haiti. Do your part while I go do mine Cheer!

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It was a hectic weekend last Saturday and I have to apologies for not updating this blog over the last 4 days. However, I have brought a good news for you in this post and I promise you that you will like it. Well, one of the events I went to was an event co-organized by HP and Microsoft. I have the privilege of been invited by Willis from Penn Olson (the blog I am a guest writer for) and I am honored to be there.

Held at Giraffe Restaurant & Bar (directly opposite Istana/Plaza Singapura), the event theme was “Envision the Future”. To kick it off, I thought the food was not too bad and the atmosphere was good for small function like this. I guess throughout the event, there are at least 60 people in attendance. Most of them are bloggers from different genre, students who are interested in new technology and people from the public relations sector.

There are 2 parts in the program.  The first is a 5 – 10 mins talk by various panelists from a wide range of technology backgrounds. The organizers have invited Daniel Tsou of Tech65, Willis Wee of Penn Olson, Nicholas Aaron Khoo of C-Net Asia’s Geekonomics, fashion blogger/editor Mina Sunico and Brian Ling of Design Sojourn to share with us the HOT and NOT of in the technology world.

Blogger Walter Lim have written an extensive article to describe some of the points raised by the panelists and the audience during the talk and panel discussion. So if you want to know what the future hold for technology, head over to take a peek.

What HP and Microsoft have for you?

Well, how can a free event be without any commercials right? HP and Microsoft never forget that bloggers like us love to give benefit to their readers, therefore, they urge us to tweet about it or write a blog post about it. So what is it? It’s their outreach program called “Blog a Trend” and here are the details:

What Is “Blog A Trend”?

Do you have a simple idea that can change the world? HP and Microsoft believe in bringing together various insights and ideas that can spark a revolution. “Blog a Trend” may be your first step in starting a your own revolution.

How Blog A Trend works:

All you have to do is blog a post of at least 300 words about the most compelling vision of the future. If you dislike writing, you can create a photo story or even produce a video clip about the future. Once you have posted the article in your blog, you can email them the permalink to futureis@ waggeneredstrom.com by 28th February 2010.

Note: Blog A Trend is eligible for bloggers residing in Singapore only.

What you can blog about?

You have to discuss about the future and what are the trends that define it. A great idea would be to think about people, what they like, what they dislike and how those behaviors redefine in the future. It can also be your own opinion about the future and the trends you see emerging.

Simply put, blog about what you believe will soon become part of our everyday lives. If the judge think that your post can generate interesting discussions, you will get to win the latest gadgets from HP.

The Prize

The Grand prize is a HP TouchSmart600 PC worth $2,099 and the Second and Third Prize is a HP Mini worth $899 each. Not bad for writing 300 words based on what you think.

I guess I will be writing something about the future of social media. What will you be writing?

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Hi all, I thought it would be a good idea to let the readers here know what we are doing over at our Facebook and Twitter page since not all of you may be following closely to all the 3 platforms we have presence in. So here are the  updates we have for you.

Facebook Page

We have just launched a Facebook ad campaign to boost the numbers on our Fan page and will be tracking the response over the next one month or so. The objective is not much of growing the community but more of finding out if there is any impact when we add ads into our existing marketing model. We have grown approximately 200 members over the last month, most of them organically (probably with the help of the fan box on the right) and will hope to double or even triple that with Facebook ads added to the mix.

To improve the content experience of the readers (both for the blog and fan page), we have also added a Twtpoll to ask for feedback regarding your interest in social media. You should see the question pop up over time in the status update because we really want to know how to create relevant content here and on Facebook. In fact, if you have 5 mins to spare, do head over and give us your feedback now.

In 140 Chars or less, tell us what is the biggest challenge businesses face when it comes

Twitter

Over at Twitter, we have regularly been updating news regarding social media. If you are following us and is finding our tweet interesting, please feel free to retweet them to your colleague or associates. besides that, we have also created a hashtag called #smvocab. It is short for ‘social media vocabulary’. The idea is to use this as an educational tool to teach anyone who are new about social media. Each day, there will be a new vocab introduced and you are free to retweet them to your friends too.

One-on-One Coaching

Yes, time for a little promotion. We are delighted to announce the launch of our private coaching program One-on-One Coaching. As the name suggest, we want to work with business owners on a regular, one on one basis to help them navigate the social web and understand the use of social media. This program will give them a framework to work on so that they can use it to produce consistent results month after month, year after year.

Since we’ve just launched the program, we are giving away 10 slots at a huge discount. Visit the tab above to learn more about the program and how it can benefit you.

Coming up

Within the next few weeks, we will be annoucing our affiliate program structure for both the coaching and training programs we have. If you or your friends are interested in making some money by referring clients to us, do check back and see what we have in store for you. Cheers!

That’s all the updates we have for you. Hope you find the content in this site insightful and if you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to write on the comment box below or contact us directly. Cheers!

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Merry Christmas!!! – Roderick

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Hey there,

If you are a regular reader on this blog, you will realize I have been making a few changes here and there. This blog layout was actually the original layout I used when starting Expeditus Media. Subsequently, I have changed the layout to a more personal one. However, I realize that I still like this layout more as it provides a very clean and easy way of navigating the site. It also gives me alot of flexibility in adding new features to it. So, hopefully this layout will remain throughout 2010.

Besides the change of layout, I also want to take this opportunity to update you on several things that I have been planning for 2010.

Facebook Page

Originally, Expeditus Media have already got a Facebook page months ago. At that time, I was running a Facebook group and was not sure what am I suppose to do with page. Now I have a clear idea of what this page is going to do. I will be using the Facebook page to provide industrial updates, blog posting and sources to download free reports. It will also include polls, case study videos and a discussion forum for everyone to share and give comments of social media.

The intention of this page is to educate fans about the social media industry and to witness the evolving social media landscape. The updates provided will be useful for marketers, community managers, business owners and social media enthusiast as these updates will be geared towards achieving business objectives. Therefore, you won’t see funny videos or pictures on the page but strictly business oriented content.

I will also phrase out the group and channel them to the fan page I have created.

What About My Facebook Profile?

The original intention was to use my profile page as a mean to connect to individuals at a deeper level. It will still be open to everyone who wants to connect and share insights with me. But I will not be sharing as much social media information on my profile page as I do in the past.

My profile page will still contain informative content (you don’t need to know what I had for lunch yesterday, and which toilet is unclean right?). I still share entertaining videos, pictures and some things I learn along the way. But will be strictly personal.

I believe in this way, it is much easier for those who are reading my status updates regularly. I also believe it’s much easier for me to identify those who wants to know more about social media marketing and to be gathered in to one community.

Twitter

Currently, I have no plans for my Twitter account. I will still be using my personal Twitter account to share about social media content since most followers comes from the marketing, social media and business background. So if you want to get industry news about social media or you want to get connected with me, do follow me @rodericklow and start chatting.

My Blog

Besides changing the layout. 2010 will also be the year where I will focus most of my energy on creating and publishing content. In that, I mean creating more how-to ebooks for download in Free resources, videos and slides to share about social media. The style of the blog posts will also change by 2010. In the past, I use to write about everything I read on social media. By next year onwards, it will be geared towards business owners and marketers, community managers etc. That will be the target audience I hope to attract to my blog and Facebook Page.

So don’t be surprise if you read about insights, complex methodology and statistics dominating the site.

I believe a website should be easily navigated and not confusing for the users. Therefore the features of the site will remain largely unchanged except maybe some additional features along the way.

I am also keen to come up with products for sale in the later half of the year. I am still not sure what products I am going to come up with but the one I am certain will be the book I am currently writing now. So do look out for the announcement in the middle of next year, will reveal more about it when the time is right.

Conclusion

2010 is certainly going to be an exciting year for me and Expeditus Media. I hope to contribute more to the marketplace with my skills and hopefully more organizations will make use of social media to not only make money from it but do social good too.

Have a happy holiday,

Rod

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