Archive: February 2009

A common reaction people have to Twitter is that it serves up an overwhelming amount of underwhelming content. Too hard to follow. Too much of a time drain. Too many “I just ate leftover casserole” updates.

My Twitter experience started out as many others before me—Google searches to figure out who I should be following. I found a dozen or so marketing/social media guru types and started click-click-clicking on the links they tweeted. While the perpetual parade of 140 character updates was intimidating at first, Twitter proved to be an amazingly effective content aggregator that was too valuable to ignore.

When I finally decided to join the conversation, I wrote about my frustration with a burrito that fell apart after one bite—real gripping stuff. No one wrote back because no one was following me. I was just an eavesdropper mumbling to myself. And I didn’t like that.

My problem was that I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to get out of—and give back to—this virtual cocktail party. I knew I wanted to tap into the minds of industry thought leaders and read what they read. But I also wanted to throw my hat in the ring and chat up people on the topics du jour.

So back to Google I went for beginner advice from Twitter experts, including these from TwiTip, ProBlogger, and Caroline Middlebrook. I found out that if you want in, then speak up. Post with a purpose. Make worthwhile comments. Ask questions. Answer questions. Promote others. Update regularly. Show your personality. And don’t be afraid to follow more people than are following you—things catch up.

Like most things in life, you get out what you put in. There are no shortcuts on Twitter. It’s about meeting people and establishing real connections. It’s about learning and sharing. It’s about what’s happening in the world right now. And it should be fun.

If you try it out and can’t see yourself tweeting for business or pleasure, just walk away. Like cellphones, sandwich bags, and the Snuggie, man can survive without Twitter. As for me, I’ll be tweeting here if you want see what I had for lunch.

The other day I stumbled upon a very well put together Facebook Connect - Wordpress plugin. Given the task of finding a way to connect the two, a Google search pointed me to www.sociable.es.

Once installed, the plugin implements a widget into your Wordpress sidebar that allows users to log into their Facebook accounts and share a blog post with friends, post a blog article to their Facebook wall, share blog comments to facebook, even import registration data to the Wordpress application. The registration part is clever. As a new visitor to the Wordpress blog, a user simply click the “Connect with Facebook” badge and enters their Facebook credentials. In a snap a new Wordpress account is created based upon their Facebook profile and their profile image and other basic information is imported over.

Check out a demo at http://www.onewelcomesone.com/wordpress/  - The demo is a clean installation of Wordpress with nothing but the plugin added. The overall setup took less than an hour and could be done by anyone.

Developed by Javier Reyes, the Wordpress plugin is easily installed through the Wordpress plugin directory and immediately configurable through the Wordpress administration interface. Backed with a straightforward read-me, the plugin is installed in 8 steps. For a noob, the toughest part of the installation is probably creating a Facebook application through www.facebook.com/developers but after that, it’s all drag and drop. Anyone who toys with the two applications will love this plugin.

Check it out, install it, enjoy it. If you have any questions, leave a comment. It’s an excellent way to start boosting traffic on your blog and getting your articles spread across larger social communities.

Typically, in software and web site development, when budgets or timelines get cut, the first activity to fall off the project plan is usability research. Project teams know it is important, however the perceived cost, is seen to outweigh the benefits of testing and validating, especially when the launch date is looming. The problem is when your projects deal with innovative or unconventional interfaces, involving users in the design process is often the best method (and cheapest in the long run) for ensuring a successful outcome.

Therefore removing steps and streamlining the usability research has become a priority.  Guerilla or discounted usability testing is nothing new, in fact Jacob Nielson wrote about it in 1994 (http://www.useit.com/papers/guerrilla_hci.html). Although, at SolutionSet we are taking the principles of down and dirty testing and marrying them with new technologies to offer solutions that reduce budgets and provide quicker turnaround. For example, on a recent project the goal was to test new interaction models that had been depicted in a set of wireframes. The best way to test interaction is through a clickable prototype, but we did not have the time to create an html prototype from scratch. So we used Visio’s built-in hyperlink functionality to connect up the storyboarded wireframes and saved the file as HTML. We look forward to using Adobe’s Flash Catalyst ,in a similar manner, to transform creative comps into interactive prototypes.

Renting a Usability Lab and video equipment can be another expense that puts project teams off doing research. However, there are some exciting new budget-friendly screen capture and remote usability testing alternatives available. Recently SolutionSet used Clearleft’s Silverback software installed on a laptop to capture participant’s facial expressions and screen interactions. Silverback then allows you to export the recordings into professional looking picture-in-picture QuickTime videos to share with the team.  Using Silverback does not provide the opportunity for project stakeholders to observe the testing real-time behind one-way glass. However, it does alow you to conduct the research in remote or more informal environments. Also, in our next round of research we plan on using a screen sharing application to allow others to observe the sessions remotely. Will let you know how it works out.

Natalie Zmuda of AdAge wrote an article today about the big winners in retail over the last year. The grocery giant Kroger was ranked among them, thanks to gas discounts, free groceries earned through loyalty cards and 10% off all purchases made with tax rebate checks. Kroger also gives credit to their highly targeted and personalized direct marketing campaigns. From the source:

“We understand and appreciate that no two customers are alike,” said David Dillon, Kroger’s chairman-CEO. “Some may live in the same city, some in the same neighborhood and even on the same street, but we know that they don’t have the same shopping habits. This level of personalization is a direct link to our customers [that] no other U.S. grocery retailer can replicate.”

We love your approach Mr. Dillon. Why send canned beet coupons to an entire ZIP when you know that only 317 loyalty card members have bought them in the past month?

Paul Verna of eMarketer.com wrote an article yesterday that details a complex ecosystem within the world of user generated content (UGC). In his analysis, Verna cites a Forrester Research report “Social Technographics Explained” that segmented UGC participants:

• Creators: Those who “make social content go”
• Critics: Those who respond to content via reviews, comments, forums and so forth
• Collectors: Those who aggregate and organize content using RSS feeds, tags and voting sites
• Joiners: Those who gather around social communities
• Spectators: Those who consume user-generated content but do not respond to it publicly
• Inactives: Those who neither create nor consume social content

Seems like marketers should focus their energies on content creators in the same way they do best customers. For example, AllTop creator and all-round social media juggernaut Guy Kawasaki was sent samples by Starbucks of their new instant coffee. Verna offers advice on how marketers should be reacting to—and participate in—UGC:

The bottom line is that marketers need to break free from traditional paradigms and accept a fluid exchange of marketing information across multiple media. That means instead of fully controlling brand messaging, marketers must be prepared to share control with their customers and prospects.

It means marketers should encourage and empower their customers to post feedback, even if those efforts put the marketer’s product in a harsh light. And it means marketers should tailor their campaigns to people who fall into gray areas along the user-generated content spectrum.

One of the most active channels where companies engaging with the public is Twitter. Dell, Virgin Atlantic, Whole Foods, Ford, and others have a strong following and keep the conversation flowing. Have any good examples of companies stepping into the UGC realm to address consumer questions/comments/concerns?

We’ve been through this before. Haven’t we? Recessions, slumps and economic boom and dot com busts. And I’ll say it…design has helped us survive it all. I am not only talking about the aesthetic part of design (the visual forms it often results in), what I am concerned with today is the thinking and ideas part. Design, its thinking and ideas, has come to our rescue more than once in man’s sordid past. The industrial revolution itself was an effort of design thinking. Man realized he needed to to develop faster more productive ways for the creation of goods for the exploding population of the time. A few major wars forced design to rethink technology and communication. The great depression made design really look at how to make more, or at least the same, with less. I could go on.

OK, so history has had ups and downs. I would dare to say that design and its thinking can be found at the upslope of every period in history as a return to “normal” was resumed. Ford, in the industrial revolution gave us the affordable automobile; the car itself was remarkable…but the thinking which allowed it to be built (and everything else from here on) for the masses was the real gem. Lester Beall helped our country emerge from the great depression creating engaging communication that rallied a nation into service. The period after the second world war gave us Ray and Charles Eames designed beautiful, useful things with a bit of whimsy out of materials we would have never consider had we not been forced to. All in an effort to help us feel better about a horrible war that we were leaving behind.

So why should now be any different? Everywhere you read about companies of all types scaling back. Investors are recommending that cuts be made. CEOs want more return with less. Marketers are being forced to stop marketing. The crisis were all facing is making some businesses close for good or temporarily shut down their avenues for discussion by eliminating marketing and design initiatives, as they are often thought of as extraneous or non-critical. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

So when you’re drowning…are you going to stop calling out for help or letting folks at least know you’re there? No. Are you going to stop thinking about ways to save yourself? No. This is the time for design to be leveraged heavily. Design is the most affordable way to solve a problem. Design can improve or simplify your product itself and or the way it is made. Design can help you innovate on how it’s sold and how it’s marketed. In times of hardship the first thing to go out the window should be doing what’s considered “traditional”, not innovative thinking. The commonality between today and all the periods in the past is that to speed the return to “normal” requires new thinking. That is why NOW is the time to invest in design. Because design is thinking…sure it can also be pictures that result in brochures, new websites, widgets or packaging. But deep down it’s really about figuring out how to achieve a goal within a set of confined requirements. And if this economy isn’t a requirement I don’t know what is. All that takes is thinking and new ideas. That’s what we as design thinkers get hired to do: to produce thinking and the ideas that get you heard while others drown silently because they have shut off their avenues for discussion.

Determining the right solution for you to be heard is design…is that a giant community website? It may be. But it could also be a short film to create engagement. Or a speaking tour to that communicates your unique approach. It could be a new piece of technology, explained simply and clearly so that sales increase. It could be user interface that makes your product easier to use. Whatever the situation, whatever the political environment, whatever the economic climate… design really is a good idea. Especially now.

Pavel’s recent blog entry inspired me to think about my typical work day. So recently I counted the number of times someone stopped by my desk, an instant message (IM) appeared on my screen, my work phone rang, my mobile rang or a text message appeared on my mobile.  17. And I’m not including the 100s of emails and the meeting intensive culture that most of us work in. I like to refer to this as “the interrupted work day.”

Interruptions can be Productive or Unproductive
Interruptions can be good and often are a necessary way to accomplish assignments. I find that short discussions (IM or an ad hoc visit) can easily resolve an issue or clarify a question. Also if the interruption is related to a current task, it can be beneficial and may inspire positive outcomes for the task or surface uncovered concerns (which is a good thing).

However, I found that if I’m working on a task that will take hours or days to complete, the interruptions often disrupt my path to completion and sometimes the task can take twice as long or I’ll end up working on them on my own time - not a good thing.

Suggestions to stay Productive
1. Block time on your calendar: Blocking time on your schedule will allow you the time to do work and it will prevent meetings from being scheduled.

2. Change your work hours: Arrive to work before everyone else arrives or stay after everyone else has gone home. Another suggestion is to work a Sunday through Thursday schedule. Where Sunday is a day to complete those those time demanding tasks.

3. One and done: With high expectations on response time, it’s difficult to keep up with the barrage of emails, IMs, meetings etc. Scanning emails and then returning to them later can be an inefficient way to work. I believe subscribing to a “read the item once and then take action (or not)” philosophy will help you stay productive. Of course everything can’t be managed with this suggestion but returning to and rehashing issues that can be resolved quickly can be time consuming.

4. Change your work environment: Find a conference room to do your work, close your office door or work from home. These recommendations will allow you to avoid some of the typical interruptions.

5. Turn it off: Turn off those applications (IM, email etc), ringers, or those application alerts/reminders that distract or disrupt your workflow.

So in writing this blog entry I counted 2 IM conversations, 2 unplanned meetings and 1 call to my wife. 5.

We’ve been developing a loyalty strategy for a client and have dug deep into a bunch of industries that know how to treat their best customers. Airlines have traditionally been very good at segmenting customers by tiers based on frequency of usage, making the perks for each tier attractive and attainable, and reserving the very best treatment for only their very best customers.

Casinos, hotels, high-end retail, car rental companies—they’re all good at concentrating their perks on high value customers. But, you don’t need to launch a formal loyalty program to see the benefits of engaging best customers. Here are a few tactics you can employ to support a best customer marketing plan:

• Develop quantifiable measures for defining “best customer” and segment accordingly. The more detail the better.
• Understand those customers rationally i.e. Study purchase, demo, geo, any data that you’ve captured in your customer file. Form a profile.
• Understand them emotionally i.e. What do they value about your company/brand? What do they perceive as valuable in terms of best customer perks?
• Allocate budget towards this group —they should feel the love before the rest of your customers do.

With marketing budgets tightening up, a best customer strategy makes sense now more than ever. We all know it’s cheaper to romance an existing customer than it is to go out and find a new one. If you need some inspiration to get started…

The Federal Trade Commission released a 48-page report this week addressing concerns about behavioral targeting practices in online advertising. Of course the larger issue at hand is privacy rights, and whether marketers need consumer consent to track behavioral data.

While the FTC cited “financial data, data about children, health information, precise geographic location information and Social Security numbers” as examples of sensitive information that could be tracked by marketers, they concluded that behavioral targeting practices should be self-regulated.

This declaration had plenty of caveats, including the strong recommendation that any website collecting information for behavioral marketing should provide a clear privacy policy, give consumers a choice to opt out of tracking, and retain data only as long as necessary for legitimate business needs.

If you’re into reading stodgy government reports in their entirety, feel free to download the PDF. Your tax dollars paid for it, after all.

• Beer-powered beer trucks…mmmm, eco-licious

• Abe Lincoln used emoticons in speeches ;)

• Linguistics guru George Carlin on “Modern Man”

• Three plants to improve air quality, reduce sick days