If my career fails...

...I’m going to be an actor!

:)

Just kidding.

Muscat has been selected as the Capital of Arab Tourism for the year 2012 due to its natural beauty, rich topographical and historical diversity, many remarkable tourism features and its strategic location.

During the past decade the government has put a lot of efforts in promoting Oman which is now visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year.

If you want to know more about what Oman has to offer click here otherwise just relax and enjoy the following short clip:

 

PS: Thanks to the Ministry of Tourism and ProShots for the great and fun experience.

PS2: I’ll stick to my job, promised!

H&M faces a Facebook backlash

Retailer H&M is facing criticism on Facebook after the company was accused of stealing an American artist's design.

Artist Tori LaConsay back in 2008 painted a billboard in Atlanta with the message “You Look Nice Today” to make residents in her town feel good about themselves.

A few days ago she realised that H&M were selling towels, pillows and doormats with a similar design.

H&M's reply was that “We employ an independent team of over 100 designers. We can assure you that this design has not been influenced by your work and that no copyright has been infringed.”

Of course this ended up on H&M’s Facebook page where people started to voice their opinions, most of them attacking H&M. H&M, as often happens, started deleting comments, angering fans further.

This should make companies reflect that such things could only be done (well, not really) in the pre social media era when they could get away with it, nowadays people are merciless and companies get punished publicly for any mistake made, small or big.

H&M, you don’t look so nice today.

The unconventional burger

The Wimpy fast food chain in South Africa came up with a great idea to target the visually impaired. The campaign, aimed at “letting people know that Wimpy is a place where everyone can feel at home”, used Braille, the international language of the blind, to deliver such message.

15 “Braille Burgers” were prepared by a chef who meticulously arranged sesame seeds on balls of dough with the end result being a message baked right on the burger bun, customised for the diner who can read Braille.

 

Wimpy then delivered the burgers to three organizations that help blind people.

Cleverly thought and unconventionally implemented the campaign brought great results, see for yourself.

Porsche Cayman S Facebook edition

The Stuttgart carmaker has unveiled a special edition model to celebrate a milestone of reaching two million fans on its Facebook page.

The color scheme, red tinted, comes from the Porsche 917 K, the same vehicle that won the company’s first overall Le Mans victory with Richard Atwood and Hans Herrmann at the wheel. The car features the avatars of all their 2 million Facebook fans and the front-plate area reads “100% Porsche, 100% you.”

If you’re a Porsche fan on Facebook you can go here and check out a 360-degree view of the ride, search yourself on the car as well as download wallpapers.

The Cayman S will be on display at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart until January 27^th.

If you want to see what Porsche did for their 1 million fans milestone click here.

Banks and the fear of social media

Banks generally, in Oman too, are not open to social media, that’s a fact. There seem to be the same initial fears that ATMs, internet and mobile banking created: security, reputation and control.

Everybody is on social media especially generations Y and Z (born in the mid-1980's and later). Generations Y and Z have strong preference for communicating electronically and do much of their banking online, rather than walking into a branch. Knowing that the majority of the population is very young shouldn’t local banks be on social media too? Shouldn’t they find a secure way to interact, provide a higher level of customer service and be able to improve their reputation?

Facebook, blogs, forums and the likes should be banks’ preferred communication channels as the youth seeks more in-depth financial advice, due to higher amounts of debt and unemployment, and guidance on mortgages and investments.

So are banks missing a great opportunity by not being there? Yes. I can think of several reasons, except the obvious ones such as promoting a new product/service, job opportunities, etc, why banks should be on social media and bring new meaning to customer centricity.

Forging new connections: banks can use a social platform wisely to generate immediate and impactful results on social customers, many of whom use social media as an "operating system" for their work and social lives. For instance, wouldn’t it be useful to have a live chat, in a secure way, with your personal banker while you’re comfortably sitting on your couch? I’d love that. 

Social business is a pivotal outlet for building communities: selling banking products and services can be understandably complex. However, building communities around products and services opens up a new way for consumers to inquire, engage and share material. Wouldn’t it be great if a bank had an online forum totally dedicated to banking where everyone shared ideas, opinion, and experiences and learn the latest trends, products and services from the bank but mainly from each other? 

Product research and education: Whether you're crowd-sourcing to find out what customers think of your services, or using social media to encourage customers to develop new products, social networks provide a channel to solicit ideas and input. In fact, social customers expect to be able to input ideas, rate experiences and debate ideas. How about having a blog completely dedicated to educating, motivating and empowering students to make the best of the money they earn and do more with the money they spend? Helping them learn the differences between needs, wants, and wishes? Or simply how to buy smart.

I could go on; the point though is that I can see big potential for banks in establishing relationships that can result in long-term customer loyalty, by satisfying these groups’ needs through education and targeted services while, at the same time, reinforcing the brand’s objectives. 

Generations Y and Z don’t want their bank neither to be a Facebook friend nor to be ‘cool’; all they want is to be there for them. 

Why do you think banks are not embracing social media? Is it because of regulations/legalities? Is it because they don’t know how? Is it because they would need to have a proper customer service department? Or is it because they don’t act in a transparent way?

Ninja flahmob

A light post for the weekend. A flashmob is a group of people who get together in a public place to usually perform something unusual.

I thought this is quite funny :). 

Y magazine follow up on Top 10

Thank you to our friends at Y Magazine for publishing the Oman Facebook Top 10. You will also find a feature highlighting local entrepreneurs using various social media platforms.

Read the latest issue or to simply give them a big like :).