It’s not just for businesses, organisations or individuals … It’s for everybody !

Quote  from 20 Factsand34 Examples About Social Media Oct09 Christian Palau - ”Social Media is the new marketing school … and our teachers are our users”

The social media landscape as we speak/write/breathe/share/apply is and always constantly changing. From the above presentation, showcasing 20 Facts and 34 Examples about Social Media, how many can you relate to ?

Are you inside and actively using and applying social media without yourself knowing it ?

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

The return on investment formula:

From Investopedia

How does ROI apply in Social Media ? Is there any standard rules/tools to measure it ? Do you as a business organisation shun Social Media because it is very difficult to measure the ROI ? Does a modern information technology tool such as Social Media, use the traditional ROI method ?

Soicalnomics – Social Media Blog, had a great write up on businesses and examples with regards to ROI in Social Media, the facts and figures speak for itself, the power and influence of Social Media.

Even without a proper or widely accepted ROI tool, have you taken the first step to engage your communities, marketing channels, customers, friends, partners using Social Media ? Do you want to be like those (people/friends/business beside/around you) in life that sit in the back row with their arms folded, judging, and complaining or do you want to sit in the front row with a big vision and goals, spending your energy to make your vision a reality and dreams come true ?

I have embraced and learned using Social Media to engage my readers, bloggers, partners and vendors, the growth had been phenomenal and my blogs are still growing while I am still learning the world of Social Media.

Therefore, what is social media all about ? What lies in social media for me, as a company, as a blogger, as a service provider, as a consumer ?

Let me share with a presentation by Marta Kagan “What the F**k is Social Media?”

I am stepping into the role of an avid student/learner in social media, learning and helping fellow bloggers, tweeples and brand names, before moving up the next level to be a freelance social media consultant, gaining as much as experiences in both reality and social media networks, to build up my experiences and sharing. My recent speaking experiences in the ISW-Course is my maiden step forward.

Moving forward, I would be sharing more on social media, researching more in-depth into social media on/for travel and photography bloggers, thus moving into a niche expertise for me that I ventured off and somehow grow into.

Is Social Media a fad ? How much have you embrace it ? Are you into Social Media ? What are the harsh realities of Social Media ? What is the future of Social Media ?

3 months out of action, having to undergo an operation, hospitalization and rehabilitation program, the 3 months there had been a break that I wanted to have but not in such circumstances arising. However, this 3 months period did give me a good time to reflect upon my life and how I wanted to carry on my life . It dawned upon me that I really needed a more balanced lifestyle from my workaholic lifestyle, although some people would say, I am not hardworking or productive enough.

Looking back at my other 3 months, it was kind of 1 month of holiday from the crossover of the New Year and the Chinese Lunar New holidays and the month of June, trying to adapt back into working life again after 3 months of in-action.

Realigning my goals and objectives for the year 2010, some were on track and the journey there had taken the 1st step off. Some of them were thrown off track and needs to realign back again. More obstacles were thrown in front of me, the bad wolf is calling me , bad and discouraging thoughts sometimes flooded my mind and I needed to make this a big great fight to bring out the good wolf and put the bad wolf away.

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”~ Confucius

Some critics were pretty harsh, I thank them for their feedback and it will only make me stronger if the criticism is helping me to become a better person and not those whose criticism is only for the sake of criticizing and personal without any foundation nor the heart to help.

Before you judge people, have you judged yourself first ?

The next 6 months of 2010 had already begun … Life is slowly coming back normal to me again, I had failed in different parts of my life, work, business, entrepreneurship etc etc …. I learned my mistakes and climbed back up again and again. Although we all might (and usually will) make mistakes and encounter failures down the road, we must make less mistakes and failures … and need not fear them.

- First and foremost, I would need to put in extra hard work on my advisory and consultancy business, enough said….

- Something great has spin off from my recent 2 months, for now, it would not be revealed in details to anybody. Another development was in my foray into social media networking over the past 1-2 years, it was an awesome experiential and enlightening journey, making many new friends and increasing networks of friends and business partners, thus leading and growing myself into a freelance social media consultant and blogging consultant.

- My photoblog had went through a revamp, new template courtesy of coach Jack and it breathes a new life into it, all it needs now is to add more travel flavours to be inside it ! My goals and objectives for my photoblog is on track for 2010 !!

With powerful wisdom words from Stephen Covey, I would like to encourage all of you ! Let’s all do it together ! Look forward to the next half of 2010 and take the 1st step to make it a lot better, more significant and impacting than the 1st half of 2010.

Be Proactive, Begin with End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win Win

Therefore, there comes a time whereby I must Pay It Forward, helping out Jack in his 1st course coaching organised under Intrillion Academy, known as Internet Speed Wealth Creation Course (ISWC) ! With Jack’s extensive experience and track records in internet marketing, his course was enriching and enlightening, coaching and sharing concepts together with his participants and not overwhelming them with technicalities instead.

Being a disciple of Jack under the blogging field, I was invited out of the blue to share my blogging experiences, journey and knowledge in social media networking to his 1st batch of course participants. It was an honour and I confessed that I wasn’t prepared at all and I was basically very anxious and it wasn’t great, therefore, I need to brush up and I might be speaking more in future ISWC courses ! Oh, do check out the photos here on Flickr !

There were also opportunities to share with the participants on my social media networking experiences and blogging experiences, glad to know them there and it was fun sharing ! This would possibly be paving the route for me to move up to the role of Social Media Manager !

Finally, with a graduation group photo of ISWC – 1st Batch ! Congrats to all from ISWC – 1st Batch ! Wishing all of you success in your internet marketing, blogging and social media networking journey !

With the power and channels of Social Media Networking, I got to know Sasha, a great travel writer and photographer with her own travel blog and E-Magazine. When the opportunity of becoming a guest contributor arises, I decided to give it a shot and applied to be a guest contributor with 1 of my landscape photographs that I am proud of. Therefore, when I was accepted, it was a great honour and my 1st time featured in a travel magazine ! Do check out the On UR Way Magazine Issue #2 !!

A big Thank U to Sasha ! Many many thanks to my supporters & readers !

The Singapore Arts Festival 2010 – Invitation to Dream ~ A Fire Garden Installation, lots of fire burning, feeling the heat and passion again, with myself, my businesses and photography too ! Do check out my flickr photos of The Singapore Arts Festival 2010 !

Remembering this song “Pass It On”

“It only takes a SPARK to get a Fire going. And soon all those around, can warm up in its glowing ….”

Let’s all re-ignite the Fire and Passion in us & let’s all strive hard to reach for our goals and objectives !

Many thoughts, ideas and  things to do, it’s kind of good and important that I wrote down here to remind myself on fulfilling my things to do and my directions that I would be working on. Some of the points written below would be shared in greater details over the next few days over here at my personal blog.

Blogging and social media networking

- Manufacturing new Moo MiniCards

- The power of social media networking using twitter and facebook

- My personal thoughts on blogging in today’s context

Healthy Lifestyle, Fitness and Training

- Food nutrition for calcium intake

- Fitness sharing and training

Photo Blog

- Waiting for friend to help repair my photoblog WP-Admin panel

- Purchase Premium WP Theme for photo blog revamp and makeover

- Preparing a schedule of photo blog posts

- Preparing for Guest Writer in travel sites

- Preparing for photography travel and writing competition

Photography

- Proposed purchase of 2nd hand DSLR (if my price is met)

- Making an effort to capture more of Singapore’s heartland

Travel

- Planning for travel overseas ~ Schedule and budgeting

- Future travel destinations planning

There might be probably a bit more to write down, nevertheless, there would be for another day, another post, after I cleared my list above

“?????? ??????? ???  ?????? ??????  ??? ????? ”

Since 2 months ago, with the horrific injuries resulting from the freak accident, implications and reflections regularly surfaced during my rehabilitation period, asking myself many questions and seeking a lot of my inner self again, digging into my history of incidents, happiness, sadness, success, failures. Why does all these things happen ? How does it mould me into my character and personality today ?

Searching and searching, my life experiences would serve as a matrix that you see in Optimus Prime, leader of the Autbobots, from the Transformers cartoon series, with the knowledge, wisdom and experiences, to mentor and help serve people, paying it forward. With the power of internet search engines, found sites with the poems of “Everything Happens for a Reason” -

“Everything happens for a reason! Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul.” – Source here.

My illness and injuries got me into seriously looking at my nutrition, diet, lifestyle and current exercise regime. Moving forward, sharing the importance of exercise and diet would be written and shared with my readers. Prevention is better than cure.

“If someone hurts you, betrays you or breaks your heart, forgive them because they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart.”

Time heals everything, the hurt still lingers and is buried away deep inside me. When the time is ready and fate comes in, the heart will open again and it is something that shouldn’t be forced or fighting for it.

“ … sometimes things happen to you at the time that may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, will power or heart.”

Everything Happens for a Reason, learning from all the different life experiences will only make you stronger !