Consumers have embraced mobile devices with a vengeance. Marketers, faced with new and constantly evolving attitudes and behaviors that accompany always-on everywhere access, are scrambling to play catch up. Think about it. Almost half of all email is opened on a mobile device and a third of e-commerce takes place on either a smartphone or a tablet. Then think about the amount of social media and gaming that gets done on-the-go and you realize how fast things changed and how much faster they will change as mobile payments, more sophisticated apps and big data play larger roles in providing utility, speed, information and entertainment to consumers. This puts an enormous burden on designers and marketers not only to catch up but to anticipate and proactively serve the growing expectations of mobile users. We have to rethink how we create mobile assets by partly abandoning and party adapting what we’ve learned about creating websites and digital experiences. As a rule of thumb, the fewer clicks; the better. Consider these 7 important user design factors. Rendering. While the debate between adaptive and responsive design advocates rages, the bottom line is … if your content doesn’t render properly on mobile devices your brand Read more…
“Instagram resembles a modern day bazaar – one that I visit on my phone when I have a free moment.” Jenna Wortham wrote in The New York Times. “A huge part of the appeal is that the goods I’m perusing are sandwiched in my Instagram feed between my friends; selfies and pictures of snow covered spots where they’ve stopped during the day. Stumbling across an unexpected and gorgeous find … on a special app like Instagram brings with it the excitement of discovery not unlike the titillating thrill you get when coming across a rare find at a flea market.” Photos and fifteen second videos are the coin of the realm. Pictures communicate fundamental ideas and emotions without a need for translation Instagram might be the absolute proof that a picture is worth a thousand words. Now my favorite data geek, Dan Zarella, studied 1.49 million photos from 538,000 users on Instagram to distill what he calls “The Science of Instagram.” These data-derived insights can be used to master this evolving medium. Consider these five selected observations. More Tags Equal More Likes. The easier you are to find; the more people find you. With up to 30 tagging options per Read more…
Ninety nine percent of social posts create no engagement according to new data from Social Flow. An unrelenting blizzard of posts that come and go quickly, an ADD public addicted to social and mobile media and brands using a two-way channel with a one-way mentality are contributing causes. Nobody can really keep up with the torrent of social media posts so its no wonder that 9 out of 10 die alone in the dark. Too many brands bring an old school media mentality to social networking. This mismatch of expectations seriously contributes to the absence of engagement. Too many marketers think of social media as a fast, cheap add-on channel. They fantasize about creating a video, an ALS-like stunt or a meme that magically goes viral. Yet these very same marketers process, homogenize and neuter posts in the pre-planning process. The objective is to mitigate risk rather than optimize engagement. By attempting to push cleaver or relevant brand messages, intersect with consumers, or be relevant and useful, posts are written or developed and filtered through legal teams. Since its impossible to guess when the right topic will reach critical mass, its no surprise that this sausage factory approach delivers a Read more…