I mentioned once before that I am currently working on my bachelor thesis about Online Self-Marketing. After I was researching this topic for quite a while I am now beginning to write.
During this process I get assistance from the University of Applied Science Konstanz, where I am a student. And by Jan Mittelstaedt, who offer his enthusiastic support, as the managing partner of Lorth Gessler Mittelstaed, an advertising agency supplying their customers with services from motion picture to corporate design.
This semester, besides the courses I am taking, I write this thesis focusing students, who I try to help with my work especially, but I do think my findings will also be applicable to others as well, since I am trying to describe strategies and tools for developing your personal online self-marketing plan.
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If you haven’t noticed yet, you will now: Germany is voting their new parliament and with it the new chancellor tomorrow. At lot has been said and except that I think everybody should vote and by that be a part of democracy or get their “complaining-licence” I won’t say anything regarding this matter.
I just wanted to give you some insight into the election campaign of SPD, because they sure know marketing! Not that I would vote them because of it, but they selected a very nice communication tool for reaching students.
This is what I saw when I left the university’s library Friday afternoon:
election campaign by SPD in Germany
Every single bicycle had been equipped with a rain cover by the SPD (social democratic party) or more precisely the SPD together with their organization for “young socialists” . This is perfect, because it not only serves their original purpose, pursue students to vote and vote for them, moreover it’s useful. Even when you won’t vote them you might just like to use the cover, since it is free. And by using it, it will be free advertising for the SPD.
Here some more pictures:
rain cover by SPD stating: tuition fees - bullshit (somewhat like that)
little blurry (sorry): Do not forget: Go Vote on Sunday!
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Power distance is a concept introduced by Geert Hofstede, formerly professor of organisational anthropology and international management at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands. He was an employee at different companies including IBM and has brought about a paradigm change in intercultural studies with his book Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations.
Power distance is one of the four dimensions of cultural variation identified by Hofstede. He defines it as the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations (and similar systems) within a nation expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
That practically means that in countries with high power distance (Asian, African, Latin American..), the employees expect the boss to give orders and they won’t criticise his desicions or give suggestions (among other characteristics). In countries with low power distance (North America, Netherlands…), the relationship between the boss and the inferior is more equal, the superior asks for his employees opinion and they more often call them on their mistakes.
In front of this background I thought about the experiences I had when researching on Asian Websites, which I did during my internship in Taipei. Those are the features on these websites, which could have been caused by the high power distance:
These are a few I thought are the most obvious. I’d like to know about your experiences surfing Asian websites!
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It took me a while to apply the inter-cultural knowledge I have to the web. It was that difficult, because I had to wrap my head around a very obvious contradiction. But to explain what my problem was I need to give you some background knowledge first.
low-context vs. high-context
These are terms first used by E.T. Hall to describe an attribute of communication. In relation to this context is ‘the information that surrounds an event’ (Hall & Hall, 1990) The opposite of context is text, which is according to Hall ‘the coded explicit, transmitted part of the message’ (Hall, 1976).
To make this concept clear and accessible to you I’ll tell you a little story:
Karl from Germany is studying Chinese Culture together with Monika. When they invite their Chinese friends Ling and Nan over for dinner, Ling gives them a wrapped box. Karl takes the gift and says “Thanks”, but the moment he makes a move to unwrap it, Monika says: “Karl” and gives him a special look. Karl understands and puts the gift aside.
The text in this communication is “Thanks” and “Karl”, but the context is more interesting, because the context behind “Karl” is rather large. Monika and Karl share the same knowledge about Chinese culture, which includes the custom of Chinese to unwrap gifts only when their guests are gone, in order to hide their feelings concerning it. This is a method to protect their guest’s and their own “face“. So Monika actually reminded Karl of this principle by simply calling him by his name. A different person, which doesn’t share the context would not have been able to understand this message.
According to that cultures with high-context communication generally use less text and more context, for example Chinese or Asians. Cultures with low-context communications use more text than context.
That’s why you would expect the German website of Yahoo to have more text than the Chinese or Taiwanese one, which is not the fact. This is the contradiction I mentioned above and which threw me a curve.
Just now I was able to create a theory explaining WHY.
Since Germans are used to low-context communications they put their message across in an effective way using a certain amount of text. But Chinese are used to high-context, so since in the web, there is hardly any context, they try to make up for it by more text which leads to bigger websites than the ones of low-context cultures.
But here I have to state that this is only one possible explanation. Aside from culture which influences communication there are several factors which we shouldn’t forget. What kind of website are we dealing with here? How big is the target group they are focussing on? What characteristics does this target group have? And what goals is the company trying to achieve with the website.
I am just trying to give all this yet another angle.
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Every time I view a Chinese website or a website using Chinese characters (traditional or simplified) I am overwhelmed by the amount of information depicted.
To demonstrate what I mean and analyze it I picked out the website of yahoo for Taiwan and the USA.
You can clearly see that the page of Yahoo USA is offering less information.
So what did Yahoo Taiwan do differently?
- the “sign in – field” is bigger and has more options
- advertising (acer, LG and a housing project)
- less news (above acer ad) and more shopping (shoes, mobile phones, cosmetic)
- when you view the page in your browser you’ll also notice that the Taiwanese site is longer
- less icons
(to only name a few)
I asked myself: Why do they do it that way?
Obviously their customers are different. Consequently does the difference between Chinese and Americans (please excuse my generalization here) dictate the way Yahoo sets up their websites.
And in general it’s a culture difference, because culture is:
“the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and which is transmitted from generation to generation through learning“ Bates DG, Plog F: Cultural Anthropology. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1990, p 7
If the members of a society use their culture as a “tool” to deal with the world, it is no wonder it should influence the design of websites online. In the next few posts I will describe some aspects of culture, which are most influential for web design.
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While researching for my thesis about online self-marketing, I stumbled upon the question in which language I should write the thesis. This rather obvious matter had not yet occurred to me.
Somehow I had assumed I would write it in German, since I am German. But just today I realized that this might not be the best way to do it and looking into the problem some more, I discovered that there are more advantages than disadvantages for writing my thesis in English:
PRO:
- the thesis will reach a wider audience
- international marketing opportunities, e.g.:
- link on website to download sites: Scribd, Docstock, Grin
- job-hunting: HR staff can read thesis
- it is possible to find a native speaker for corrections
- a lot of marketing terms are in English (or mostly used in English)
- most of the resources are in English
- I consider my English sufficient enough
CON:
- It is not my native language
- finding a native speaker for correction is more complicated
- possibility of problems with staff of my university (unconfirmed)
- little knowledge about American / English formatting standards for dissertations
I think everybody, not only students, who write their thesis about something concerning the Internet or international issues, should consider writing their thesis in English.
I am of the opinion that every topic is of international interest nowadays.
For example: When you write a thesis about “the German taxation system for small and medium sized companies in Hamburg” it might not only be interesting to Germans. Companies considering to open an office there might be interested in this research in order to determine whether their plans convenient or they might consider another location. Moreover it might help them to deal with the taxation issues during their start-up period.
You can see that you might just not know to whom your research could be of benefit.
This opens up a great opportunity for you to promote yourself and your work. Additionally to the advantages of writing a thesis in English, which I mentioned above, if you have a personal website it is always good to give something away for free. This can build credibility and drive more people to your website by word-of-mouth.
Now I will see if I can eliminate or diminish the disadvantages.
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My website and with it my attempt to market myself online is now over 50 days old. I have to say that my mind has traveled far, but somehow I feel like I haven’t even started. Let’s see what I have done until now:
My 20 first steps:
1. account/domain – at fatcow.com for hosting my website
2. wordpress – install (get it installed)
3. disquis – for comments on my posts
4. twitter – get an account & start tweeting
5. FTP – download FileZilla & learn how to use it
6. theme – choose a free one, upload with FTP and modify it for own use
7. post – my first post, tweet about it
8. plugins
a. feedburner
b. Google analystics
c. SEO
9. blogs – read, read and read to further knowledge
10. Google Reader – install and add blogs to organize information & share via twitter
11. resume – add to website & link it
12. wordpress 2.8.1
13. twitterlater – automation tool, e.g. send “Thanks for follow” messages
14. motivation statement – write a first edition and add to website
15. email – for www.christinarogge.com
16. linkedIn – connect with new twitter friends
17. input – attend presentations, networking events, read books, listen to people
18. networking – events, websites, social media – connect it all to my website
19. target group – who do I want to reach?
20. job opportunities – find jobs online via new social media tools
You can see that it looks pretty chaotic and not very strategic, but I mentioned in my post “Just do it! the nice-approach” already, that to get things done you just have to do them! That obviously also raised a lot of issues along the way:
My 10 first problems:
1. how can my posts be of use to others?
2. how can I be innovative?
3. picture build in post screws up layout
4. when pasting text from word to wordpress editing problems occur
5. feeling of information overload
6. twitter account suspended
7. following people on twitter I never followed
8. google reader won’t open in Windows explorer
9. Is my English writing good enough?
10. wordpress telling me things I don’t understand, e.g. “All in One SEO Pack must be configured. Go to the admin page to enable and configure the plugin.”
Some of the problems are not solvable, but manageable, like the information overload. The twitter account suspension was apparently their fault. They wrote on their status site, that it was an accident. All the other difficulties I expect to overcome within time and by gathering more experience.
My 5 steps for the future:
1. Tag cloud – install when there are enough posts
2. twitter tools – research and install useful ones (tweetdeck)
3. new theme – get a more professional theme with more features and less bugs
4. motivation statement – re-editing
5. posts – increase value for readers
And of course: Continue regularly tasks & identify more future steps!
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Yesterday I went to a Young professionals event organized by the German Trade Office in Taipei. There would be a presentation on creativity. So beforehand I thought about what I consider creativity.
When I was a child I was the kind who drew a lot and whose parents would always be very impressed with their child’s drawing skills, which seemed to them beyond their kid’s age. So I got a drawing teacher, an art student from University, who taught me different techniques, like how to use oil paint, water colors or coal to draw or paint pictures. So when I was sitting in the heating room of our house, the heaters buzzing in the background, I was painting for hours without noticing how time passed by.
Back then I just needed a blank paper and a pen to fuel my creativity, but after I finished Junior High and studying became more important, the painting tools collected dust in a corner of my room.
Now when I take a blank page, I stare at it – not knowing what to paint, feeling the need of a creative genius to help me.
The creative genius is what the old Romans and Greek assigned to people, who where creative. That’s also what Nick Vasiljevic, managing director of the company pilotfish, mentioned in his presentation yesterday. “But today”, he said, “You are the creative genius”. You can not blame it on somebody else.
Nick sees creativity from a different point of view. He likes what Steve Jobs says about creativity. That it is like “connecting dots”. Steve Jobs also stated in this speech at Stanford University “Believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference“.
So by connecting different fields of study, various industries and disciplines it is able to create new things. Jobs did it many times: connecting art (design) and state of the art electronics in Mac is just one example among others. But what Nick mentioned as well is, that today the education system is forcing us to make decisions. Do you want to study economics or art, social or political science? I myself chose two fields of study Chinese (language & culture) and business management, but would also have liked to learn more about web design and nurture my artistic nature. So is education actually constraining creativity?
The gist of the presentation was that creativity is not magic.
There are simple tools, which help to be more creative:
- listen
- be curious
- ask questions
- make connections
- observe
Now you might think: “well, that’s nothing new”, but do you really behave this way in life? Aren’t you sometimes finding yourself thinking of something else while the person in front of you is talking? Or do you feel too shy to ask a question, because you think it might sound stupid? I do admit all that, I also try to work on myself to reduce those occasions.
But what comes with creativity? It doesn’t mean that you just have to be creative to be successful. The presentation also stated, that you need to have other characteristics to use your creativity in a beneficial way:
- commercial sense
- strong morals
You need to know how to sell yourself and your ideas in a way that is creating additional value and is not harmful to society. Here you might excuse my rather intangible writing, but I am sure you can grasp my meaning.
Another premise for connecting the dots, when it comes to Nick Vasiljevic, is that you not only have a deep expertise, but also broad knowledge: T-shaped people. They are also often called Versatilists. Naturally, when you know more about different areas you can connect more dots.
All together it was a very inspiring presentation for me, so that I had to share these insights with you on my website.
By not only being an expert in one field, but also having interest and knowledge in others, you can be creative by connecting the dots via curiosity and attentiveness to the world around you to create value being both commercial and ethical.
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I was going through the blogs I like to read, e.g. The Personal Branding Blog or Web Strategy by Jeremiah, when I realized that you can assign “2.0″ to almost everything. Or can you assign it to everything?
Before I got into online marketing or the professional usage of social media, “2.0″ would have meant nothing to me. But when I furthered my Internet related knowledge from how to read and write emails, download music and use facebook (or studivz) to FTP, WordPress, twitter networking and more, I first got to know what Web 2.0 actually is.
Tim O’Reilly explained it very good in his article “What is Web 2.0“.
By switching from “1.0″ to “2.0″, the web entered a new age of it’s usage, applications and definition. Becoming something more.
Related to Technology I understand “2.0″ as a sign, which tells me that this is a product’s successor or its second improved version. Nowadays however, “2.0″ gets used outside of the world of High Tech to assign the meaning: “related to Web 2.0″ as I may put it.
A few examples are:
PR 2.0
Business 2.0
Enterprise 2.0
Taiwan 2.0
Arbeit 2.0
It is fascinating what can be done in Web 2.0. I am thinking about a lot more you could do with it:
Pregnancy 2.0:
Sites with information about pregnancy exist, let’s take it to another level and create a social networking site, with discussion boards about what to eat and how to workout (I agree with people saying in the future every website will be social). Women could upload their belly pictures and scan prints of their baby. Later in life the once newborn can say: “I got my first online profile when I was an embryo”. Generation web?
Ethic 2.0:
Does anybody think about ethic while writing a blog? Maybe you should. Practice value management online!
Or maybe science 2.0… wait there someone was faster!
I belive the web will soon influence every aspect of life. It will be your job to improve it, it will help you find a partner and answers every question you might have? Did we find the holy grail and not realize it? 
What are your ideas? Opinions?
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When I was riding the MRT on saturday in Taipei, I saw this ad:
Taiwan Yes is advertising their Vitamin C juice. Bush is saying something like ”no c, no c, when drinking juice it can not only have Vitamin C”. Obama’s answer is “Ou ba ma, Ou ba ma”, which is his name but not with official characters. They switched the “巴” with “八” to make it sound funny, but could also be interpreted as a little rude.
Then he says “you must not buy juice at random”. “黑白” means random in Taiwanese dialect and plays with the other meaning of the characters “黑” = black and “白” meaning white, referring to the contrast between Obama being black and Bush being white. Additionally the pronounciation of “黑白買“ in Taiwanese dialect sounds somewhat like “ou bei mei”, which is also similar to “Obama”.
So all together it’s an very interesting ad. Does it imply that since you do not choose your president at random, you should’t do the same with your juice? I think more than one interpretation is possible.
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