Mobile Site Madness, Pt 1

December 27, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

Mobile Web Site TipsIt’s yourself that you hurt when you make fundamental website mistakes. And one of the areas that people are tripping up the most is on the mobile web.

There was another post in the queue for this week, but I had to move it after running into a slew of sites that made some basic errors that made it almost impossible to link to them because I knew the that people on the other end were going to have a bad experience.

I’m not going to publicly excoriate these guys.. but they’re major agencies and companies that have the budgets to know better that are making this crucial mistake.

This week, we’re going to kick off the series with the first of three critical mobile site mistakes.. The walkabout link.

The Walkabout Link

You receive a link in email on your iPhone, Android, iPad or other mobile device to a deal. Or a press information. Or whatever. You click it. And then end up on their.. home page?

Many poor implementations of mobile sites will redirect any page that isn’t in the mobile site tree to the home page. This is a critical mistake, because people want to go where the link is advertised to take them. Users get frustrated and leave in this scenario, and there’s also a high probably a savvy content person isn’t going to share your link because they know their mobile audience can’t see it.

The solution: Every link on your site, if you’re going to have a mobile version, should auto-detect that it’s being used by a mobile device and reformat the content with the same URL. Also, at the bottom of the page, the user should have the ability to turn off said mobile formatting. In almost all cases, there should not be a separate setup for mobile sites. At the very least, let people see the regular sized page and give them the content they were expecting.

Stop by next week for part two of mobile site madness. Your users will thank you, and so will your pocketbook.

Filed Under: Love Your User, Social Media, Social Media Fundamentals, Tips Tagged With: fix your mobile site, Mobile sites, mobile website design, mobile websites, redirects, usability, user experience

Tips On How To Make A Good Twitter Hashtag

December 28, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

You and your marketing team come up with what you think is a killer hashtag to try to spread the word about something. (Not sure what a hashtag is? It’s a way that you can, by putting the # sign before a word, make it easy for people see the entire public conversation about a topic on Twitter).

But the Twitterbirds and Tweeple responded with a resounding… silence.

What to do?

Here are a few tips on making hashtags. As one of the originators of #detdateline (with thousands of tweets) and others, I can tell you that the hashtag isn’t about you.

Great Hashtags Are About Shared Experiences

Twitter is a real-time medium, and if there was a “really real-time” online social tool Twitter would be it. It is anchored in random observations, life happenings, links, and humor.

What pulls Twitter out of the default “random” mode is shared experiences. Conferences (#140conf, for example), television shows (#dwts, which stands for “Dancing With The Stars,” movies (#inception, for instance), topics (#urbanism, which is about supporting city-style living and usually walkability) or even the weather (#snowtorious is one of my latest favorites, by Onion editor @Baratunde Thurston in regards to the recent snowstorm on the east coast) create group bonds. Sometimes, people use it for humor, but it’s still shared (#thebrokefriend is where folks share stories about that friend most of us have who is always broke).

If The Community Created It, Go With It

If you have a devoted enough (or interested enough) following in the topic, you’ll find that people may already be referring to what you want to talk about in a hashtag. If they made it, go with it. Don’t try to shove your brand name in the middle of it or change it; once momentum has started, all you’re going to do is slow it and hurt yourself by trying to change things.

Sometimes, if you’re the sponsor or organizer of an event or happening, you may get the opportunity to suggest the hashtag everyone goes with, especially if you’re already on Twitter and vocal. Make it simple, as few as characters as possible to get the point across, and try to be unique to avoid confusion with others.

Quick hashtag tips:

  • Use only one or two words
  • If you use an abbreviation, makes sure it’s common (DET for Detroit, for example)
  • Do not try to shove your brand name in there, especially if it feels awkward
  • Do not use hard to spell words

There is only 140 characters.. errr, 120. So leave room for the people.
Why do you need to be brief? Because people only have 140 characters per message on Twitter. And with people using old-style retweets or wanting to add their commentary, you really want to shoot for messages that are 120 characters. If you burn 15-20 additional characters with your bad hashtag, few will want to use it and they will naturally shorten it because you’re limiting them (notice a theme here? It’s not about you, it’s about the people).

The brand benefit will be the people seeing the hashtag being used and clicking on it. Then they’ll see an entire conversation and probably want to join. It definitely may be appropriate your brand name is in there, but not always. And the people, not you, will be the judge of whether it’s appropriate or not.

Don’t use special characters

The hashtag dies at the first special character (!,@,+, etc) or space. It’s especially a bad hashtag if you add the character immediately after the #. Why?

Because Twitter will not recognize and link the hashtag after the special character or space. Almost all Twitter users use the web interface on the Twitter site, and hashtags are clickable. If you sabotage your hashtag you’re making for bad usability for over 85% of Twitter users. Why would you want to make it a step harder when you don’t have to? After all, every step you add to user’s experience means you will lose people.

Caveat for my nerd readers: Sure, for high-end power users it may work. Those power users using tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck can easily search for the term. But that’s a VERY small percentage of the Twitter population. I’ve watched usability tests, and people don’t like to copy and paste. Most regular (non-power user) people will ignore the tag. By definition, if you’re using a tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, you are a power user.

So there are some tips for you for when you have the need or want to make a hashtag. What tips do you have? What are your experiences?

Filed Under: Love Your User, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: Hashtags, How To Make Hashtag, Make a Hashtag for Your Business, Twitter

Co-Working Done Right in Michigan

February 9, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

WorkSpaceToday I had the fortunate experience of getting a day pass at the Workantile Exchange, 3,000 square feet of coworking goodness in Ann Arbor.

If you don’t know what co-working is, it’s where groups or individuals work on their individual projects, but in a (usually) shared space. There are basic amenities, like coffee and really good wifi, as well as chairs and desks meant for getting the job done as opposed to the usual coffeeshop fare.

Professional Without Pretension

I walked into this place in downtown Ann Arbor, needing a place to “get it done” for a few hours.. and found a welcoming guy who ran the place. I plunked down my $15 for a day pass and there was a big orange mug for coffee discounts, decent working chairs and a desk that was just the right height (so much so, I’m going to adjust my home desk to that height). I knew no one, but could jump in a conversation that interested me, or jump out as needed. No harm no foul – we’re all there to get things done but also have a little social interaction.

There are two levels to this place, with what seemed to be three conference rooms on the lower levels. You can get full-on dedicated desks or offices upstairs at a reasonable rate according to the info I picked up – which if I lived  there or the business was based near downtown A2, I would totally do.

THIS Is The Droid We’re Looking For In Michigan

CoffeeCupConsidering the outrageous rent most office real estate folks want to charge, and the ridiculous restraints by governmental or quasi-governmental business “incubators,” THIS seems to be the right choice for the seasoned solo-preneur, the virtual company, or guy who wants to get something started on the side but there’s not enough space (or too much distraction) at home.

It’s an incubator or home for a business that doesn’t have all the pretension and overhead of some targeted program, or the unnecessary trappings of an executive suite.

As someone who has looked into official incubator space earlier in my career, and have been pitched it by various locations I shall not name, I can be frank in saying none of thos spaces meet the needs of many entrepreneurs. They are either too expensive for the market, have lots of useless amenities, or is completely missing the mark on the social and intelligent collaboration aspect (I believe required in today’s economy).

At the WorkEx, from the real bamboo bathroom floors, to the exposed brick and orange colors, the place was fun yet professional. It looked creative but also like a place where you could do some business and be taken seriously, especially the three conference rooms and training loft. I stole away for a phone call (half needing to make the call, half getting a good excuse to check it out on my own) and the WorkEx would do the trick without it seeming childish.

It’s Walkable!

The double awesome? It was in the middle of an urban, walkable downtown with plenty of mass transit and easy, cheap parking just around the corner.

Lunch? A few steps away. Lots of retail nearby for diversions and creativity, and excellent architecture. Although Ann Arbor does not have the signature buildings of some cities, it’s kept its 1880′s-1920′s era buildings in tact for the most part without “missing teeth” (empty lots breaking up a streetscape), and if there has been some torn down, the area has been filling them in creating a cohesive, consistently walkable, visually interesting space.

The place is independently owned, between some techs and who’s obviously a skilled builder who refinished the space.

I wish these guys the best of luck. Check’em out, they’re worth the money.

Photo Credits: Sourced from their site, Workantileexchange.com.
Filed Under: Business, Love Your User

Questioning God

December 4, 2009 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

in-garyv-we-trustThere’s groupthink in any industry, but I think ours in Social Media is full of it to an extreme extent.

Because it’s so relatively new (although some of us has been interacting socially on the web for 15 years before the tools got nifty pastel gradients and friendly icons reminiscent of songbirds) people are busy looking for any validation of their beliefs due to either their inexperience, their need to be like others, or simply professionally being able to point to someone else.

Unlike any other marketing/PR/customer service/etc. function, social media crosses so many barriers and traditional silos that it literally scares people. We who live “in the biz” forget that this isn’t second nature and intimidating to most not just because of the tools but the impending culture shift, contradicting what years of B-school and hierarchies reinforced.

And what do people do when they’re scared? Come together. At times through religion. Add into the mix it’s digital and many people over 40 don’t have much value for bits and bytes and/or culturally don’t understand their significance, you have a flock of converts under attack looking for leadership.

The Universal Law (Benefit) of Social Media

However, in order for our industry to grow, and for the real, universal benefit of social media – connecting people to make things happen, whatever that “thing” is to you – true progress is going to be made not by parroting the current leaders of the social media industry, but by taking their experience and trying new things. Working it. I say this with the utmost respect, but the only real difference between them and everyone else is the willingness to try something and do the hustle to make it work, and being willing to fail (which by the way, is much easier said than done, and one of many reasons to respect thought leaders).

After all, there is no formula when dealing with people; and this is dealing with people to the largest extent. Every situation you’re going to want to draw on yours and others experiences, real data, ask hard questions and be willing to listen to the answers, even if they don’t match your initial thought.

You need to be willing to act quickly, decisively, and comport to the needs of your community, not necessarily your needs.

So go out, be fruitful, be an evangelist for your brand, love your users, love your community, and charge on. We might have different sized caravans – or lone riders on a trusty steed. But if you want to make things happen – be that trailblazer with your own ideas.

Filed Under: blogging, Business, Industry News, Love Your User, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media, Social Media Fundamentals Tagged With: questioning, Social Media, social media benefits, trailblazing, universal law of social media

11,000 Reasons To Disclose

October 5, 2009 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

behind-the-curtain

This has been coming for months, and as of December 1st, it’s here.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has decided to put their hand into the blogosphere (as well as other types of endorsements) and have a policy shift that requires more disclosure than before. This initiative (started and most of the formulation was done by the previous presidential administration) is no surprise – but an under-covered story. Now that’s it’s on our doorstep, I hope more pay attention.

In some ways, this is a good thing – digital is being taken seriously enough and has proven it’s efficacy enough to require being noticed. But, with prestige comes responsibility – and since we’re talking about transactions, even if they’re “freebies,” you’re influencing people because of influences you normally wouldn’t have.

I’ve always been a proponent of full disclosure – I think that the culture of the web (which is the deciding factor – not of your profession or company) leans toward being transparent

Social media etiquette is like when you go to someone’s house – the deciding factor of whether you take your shoes off at the door is the discretion of the host, not the guest.

Open The Kimono

I honestly don’t understand the outrage of people who are against disclosure. Why does it matter to tell your audience if you received a sample, gift, or are paid for the review? If your audience ACTUALLY trusts you, it won’t hurt your credibility whatsoever.

Here’s some suggestions for disclosure:

  • Lay The Disclosure At The Reader’s Feet: The footer disclosure. At the end of the post, possible as a p.s. or italics, there’s a straightforward disclosure line.
  • Integrate it into the post. Just come out and say, “The Acme company sent me these freebies the other day, and I tried….”
  • Have A Post That Tells The Story. Especially if your site is a review site and you’re brought on retainer by a PR or ad firm to write about their products (I know bloggers who are in this situation), et all, you should have a post that states the relationship directly, offer a place for questions in the comments, etc.

Again, if you actually have trust with your readers, you have nothing to fear. It will be interesting over the next few months how the public reacts to this disclosure. However, if you’re really serious about your blog and reputation – step into the dojo:

Black Belt Judo Move: Develop and Publish Your Policy

Judo_Fight_270462Yep, I’m encouraging individuals to have a policy on this and publish it.. according to what you’re comfortable with and what’s within the bounds of the upcoming regulation. I believe readers (even if you don’t consider yourself a journalist, however, evidence is mounting that’s the default standard the public has once your readership reaches a certain level) deserve to know what you’re internal barometer is. This is a big reason WHY mainstream publications are trusted by most and continue to have high level of readership - and continue to be the “originators” of content. If you’re going to be a quality, followed, content originator, trust needs to be built up over time. Here’s a great for-instance from CNET on how they approach disclosure. Not saying you should copy exactly, however, it’s an idea how a respected publication takes it. One initiative our network uses is Blog With Integrity.

The Field Is Moving Forward

I believe December 1st is a turning point of sorts. I think the entire discipline is growing up so different rules are being applied, and just like people forever thought “blogging is dead,” it’s just because the people who weren’t dedicated and not as good didn’t have the readership or passion to continue – and Twitter, at 140 characters, was easier.

The unintended consequence is that those who actually do still blog got more authority and audience due to the lack of commoditization – if you’re writing blog posts, you’re obviously putting in more effort than a Tweet and more and more people aren’t willing or able to do more than a Tweet – and they NOW realize how much more difficult it is as far as writing, time commitment, research, etc.

What do you think? Is the government stepping too far in? What justifiable reasons does a blog writer or person have to NOT disclose relationships?

Filed Under: Advertising, blogging, Business, Industry News, Love Your User, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media Tagged With: blog disclosure, disclosure, fines, ftc, Social Media
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