My blog has been accumulating dust since I last updated it for
MTV World Stage in Malaysia. Life has been pretty busy indeed.
One year has passed since I started my PhD at University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus! When I entered my program, I had high hopes. There were a number of PhD students in my previous institution, and they looked fine doing their project. It turned out that I went through countless frustrations through the process, for problems I have unaware of. That went on for one year. On top of that, there are progress requirements to meet, and at a point I was pushed to my
breaking point. That feeling is not a joke.
One important thing I've learnt about doing science in Malaysia: the environment is hostile. Not to say scientists in Malaysia are unfriendly people but buying supplies to carry out my work can take up much time. I had to
watch the exchange rate, because chemicals are quoted to local (Malaysian) vendors in US Dollars. Orders
take weeks to months to arrive, compared to next day to a maximum of two weeks in Western countries. Now with the falling Ringgit, it's reflected in every item I am to buy and that's going to affect the number of things I can do.
If you have followed me enough, you'll know that I'm into K-pop. I'm following mostly cute girl groups, and I do occasionally watch sexy concepts. Indeed I'm a big
Pink Panda when I went to MTV World Stage to watch
A Pink performing live.
By chance, I stumbled upon
Minx 밍스 and remarked the unexceptional talent of the members. They are a sister group to Dal Shabet and belongs to
Happy Face Entertainment.
No one was doing a fanbase for Minx in Malaysia, so I started a Facebook fanpage for the girls without a second thought. The next thing was to promote my fanbase to other Minx and K-pop idols' fanpages.
That night I was contacted by a fan after the admin of Minx Taiwan told him about it. We talked about our interest for Minx. It turned out that he had the idea of setting up the Minx fanpage for Malayisa, but he was busy following Minx's activities in South Korea and I went ahead of him. In that conversation I appointed him as the second admin of the page.
I hope to step on Korean soil one day but meanwhile, I am focusing on bringing timely updates from Minx!
At the initial stage, I approached
AOA and
Dal Shabet's Malaysian fanbases to help me promote. I am grateful for their help and mentoring indeed!
At the time I created Minx's fanbase, I couldn't find quality English translations of the girls' updates. There is
Minx Taiwan translating from Korean into Traditional Chinese. There is
Minx Philippines using Google and Bing Translate and clean up the result. There is
Minx Turkey eagerly craving to make updates accessible to their fans, but couldn't do so due to language barrier.
So I came in to translate Minx's updates from Chinese into English. Slowly, the fandom of Minx is being transformed. Filipino fans have access to quality English translations. Minx Turkey is beginning to have more frequent updates thanks to my translations.
My role model is
Apink Malaysia, the top Malaysian fanbase for A Pink. I really admire their consistency and breath of content, and their passion for the girls.
My organic likes plateaued at 68. I needed to reach out to more potential fans. So I approached Josh Lim, now the boss of
LikesBeforeLove. I am aware that I am spending hard cash on this.
Thanks to his mentoring and effort in creating Facebook ads, my Minx fanpage has hit 1000 likes when I wrote this. This is a feat I've never achieved before, and I couldn't do so on my own strength.
The fact is, Josh Lim has worked with clients from celebrities to businesses to help them gain fans and generate sales leads.
What have I learnt through creating a fanbase for Minx?
- Whether you are creating a social media page for work or leisure, it'll end up as competitive as a business. People come to your page with expectations that you're able to provide them something.
- Spending money to promote so that people notice your work is equally important as your hard work itself
- Work with people to achieve a common goal. While I strive to secure my leadership position in the fandom, I share my expertise and be receptive to collaborations to achieve the common goal, that is to make Minx a success in K-pop.
I wish to talk about many other things I've gone through, but my main limit is time. Before I sign off I'd like to encourage you to have a blog to share your interest and thoughts on things. Yes, there's Twitter and Facebook to talk about the short stuff, but nothing beats the versatility of a blog to fully express yourself. As Daphne Charice
has said it, please continue to read, respond and contribute to blogs. Don't let blogging (Malaysian scene) die.
