How High Will You Jump For A QR Code?

December 11, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

QR codes are the shiny new object of the social and digital tech space, a physical representation to many that they are “with it.” If a place doesn’t have a QR code, they must not “get it” (quotes added for ironic emphasis).

But how high will you jump for a QR code? On the way to a birthday party, we found this out.. and that two slightly out of shape guys can’t quite get the pro basketball level “air” to be able to snap it with our phone. We were trying our best Michael Jordan impressions to read this QR code off a banner from the street, which was placed a good twenty to thirty feet off the ground. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work.

Here’s the deal. We were both into this social stuff. We’re going through a lot of work the normal person just isn’t going to do. These QR codes were put on these banners to look cool without a single thought of usability.

And I see this all of the time.

Funnily enough, days after, I was meeting with a client of mine who the folks on high at their office were all high on QR codes. “Where can we put them?”

I then pointed to the billboard across the road. Thing is, if there was a QR code on it, there’s no way either of us could scan it. And while you’re driving? Forget about it. And here comes the intrinsic problems with QR codes.

QR codes sound cool at first, but usually they’re implemented without thought so they become useless decoration.

To most of the population (i.e. your likely customers), they’re funny looking boxes that take a lot of work to use. It seems silly to put so much work and devote so much visible space to something when you don’t actually understand how to use it to your benefit.

Simply, a QR code is a visual representation of a link that your phone can read.

There are times – when it’s right in front of you – a QR code can work. But even if it physically works, so many people are doing things like sending people to flash sites and other non-mobile optimized places, rendering them useless to most mobile devices.

See, if someone is using a QR code, they’re probably on their phone. So you need to make the experience an easy one, as well as a clear conversion point (that is, know what you want people to do). It needs to be a page that initially loads fast and gets the point across immediately. But many marketers, in their zeal to up-sell clients for extra bucks and make them “look cool,” throw user experience and conversions out the window.

So in certain print situations, I can see a use and have seen efficacy for them (as opposed to a list of ‘theoretical’ ways someone could). And when you’re in production, always have a phone that has a QR code reader and TEST what you are going to put out there and make sure it’s truly easy before you green light.

Here’s some ways QR codes have been or could be useful:

1) Facebook and Twitter - I’ve seen some good user stories around taking people straight to pages. But the social outpost you take them to needs to be engaging.

2) Mass transit – if you could scan the QR code on the sign that is right at your level, and it gives you the next bus or subway time at that stop, that would be awesome (already being done in Florida).

3) RSVP – You have an invitation and the link takes you to a mobile-optimized page where you can sign up/RSVP to an event.

4) Enter to win – Contests have seen a modicum of success in tech-savvy areas.

5) Tour or historical info – I could see a QR code next to a landmark or other site and that takes you to a mobile info page for that exact site with possibly an audio MP3 that plays on your phone as part of a tour.

And some dubious suggestions I’ve seen on the internet:

1) On billboards – Really? Are you serious? Have you practically tried this? I’ve tried numerous times and it doesn’t work.

2) In e-mail – Pointless. You’re already on a computer. QR codes work best on mobile, they’re intended to take the physical digital. Provide a link.

3) Foursquare – Most people are not logged into their mobile browsers and a QR code with your Foursquare address will not always work. And if you think people are going to do the work to log in, you’re wrong. Scanning a QR code for check in is not currently embedded in the app, either. So that’s a pipe dream. Once it is native to the mobile app, people would truly take advantage of it.

Another thing to note – I’d cite some data about who uses QR codes, but research shows lots of contradicting information right now. It’s up 50%, 500% or 1200% or some other number depending on the study, and some will tell you it’s 18-35 and others will tell you 25-46 or some variant. Some studies will say more iPhone users use QR codes, other say more Android users. In short, there’s no consistent data because so to say that the “data” proves it’s good for “x demographic” would be incorrect.

However, if you are literally street smart and focused when you use QR codes, you can connect with new customers. And once app makers include QR reading in-app, you could see a lot more usage (i.e. Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, etc).

Filed Under: Foursquare, Location Services, Rant, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: Are QR Codes Good For Business, Business, foursquare, How To Use A QR Code, QR Code Tips, QR Codes, Social Media

The Double Lives Of Your Digital & Social Media Content Team

May 25, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes 1 Comment

With a headline like that, you might think I’m going to tell some salacious tale of scandal, where your team is having completely inappropriate conversations and tearing your brand down left and right.

But I’m not. Because in general, they’re not.

The problem, however, is just as critical, if not worse. It’s apathy.

Take a look. Is your communications team leading a double online life? It’s a strong sign your strategy and content isn’t really strong enough and that you don’t have buy in from your team.

Dear Chief marketing/PR/head muckety muck of all things digital, before you go mandating they turn off their second accounts, please take a moment and listen. It’s not their fault. This is hard medicine, but the reason is probably because your content isn’t worth sharing yet. If someone’s heart is behind something, they’re willing to stand behind their work personally. You’re not in the sweet spot yet.

The bar of your content should be high – because in general, people tune out pure marketing messages in social media. They generally don’t go to Facebook to interact with ads, they go to interact with people. With all of this talk that digital and social are supposed to be different, I rarely see that “different” talk put into practice.

For instance, although people may “like” your page on Facebook, the reality is EdgeRank (their system for showing posts to users) can be really difficult to bust through and get visible. Facebook is generally non-linear and algorithmically curated content. In short, just because you posted the update, it doesn’t mean all of your fans (or even a majority) are seeing it. You need to create content that is “likable” to folks for it to start appearing (even if they hit most recent news, Facebook curates that and brands usually lose out in that curation).

The best way to break through that challenge is to be compelling, so that people in diverse yet somewhat connected social circles actually enjoy your stuff and share it themselves. Facebook knows it’s pretty easy to get a ton of junk “likes” to fan pages – so they’ve made it more than just about the raw numbers of “likes” your page has.

But if your own team has personal followers or friends, and then you end up making them (through mandate or content that is mundane) have some rarely used secondary account to fulfill the quota, you’re just eviscerating your efficacy, because those secondary accounts do not have the pull or interest that their “actual” accounts do.

Your team should be excited and proud enough about your content, many times content they created, to occasionally share without prompting or mandate. Additionally, you can’t ever expect them to blast their stream constantly and keep authenticity. The public can tell when there’s no soul – if the people involved are simply punching a clock – and that mandated share doesn’t really accomplish anything other than making that Tweet or Facebook Like button number go up one notch. If it’s forced, it’ll much less likely be the firestarter that jumps it ten or twenty.

So do a quick gutcheck. Review if you’re making content for yourself – or are you making it for the people you want to engage? Because when I’m doing reviews of things that aren’t working, the sad truth is that what’s being put out just isn’t good enough or it’s completely targeted wrong.

Many times music applies to life in other ways.. and here, I quote Stevie Wonder, “Just because a record has a groove don’t make it in the groove.”

Filed Under: blogging, Business, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: communications, content strategy, facebook, Social Media

Don’t give away all the keys to your social media accounts

March 15, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

I am against wholly third party managed Twitter, Facebook and other accounts. Because they simply don’t work as well.

I know. Some of my colleagues in the space are having a heart attack right now. But I don’t care as much about my company’s bottom line as I do the client’s, and the maximum benefit comes from an integrated, holistic approach.

I’ve tried both. Here’s the deal: the team, the INSIDE team needs to be part of the process, and share the keys and the voice. If your firm doesn’t have a desk or equivalent in the client’s office, experience tells me you’re not close enough to work with their social media. And working with social media is a communications function; not a standalone. We happen to stand side by side with PR, Marketing, and at times, Customer Service – but there’s also other uses for social as well. See, social media is none of them but all of them at once.. (remember, social media is not a profession unto itself).

There are agencies and consultants that do this with the big picture in mind. I know of more than a few. But I’m seeing this total outsource trend, and it misses the point in the name of more profits for the agency. Social media’s “special power” is that personal relationship. Focus on that personal relationship to deliver the maximum results for everybody: not just you, but your followers and community.

Bonus tip: if you want to really shine, make social media a part of your regular life. I have family who have met their significant others on Twitter; I’ve made some great, hopefully life-long friendships. And if you want to know a secret to really connecting, it’s that it’s more of a culture change, not simply a marketing, PR or customer service channel. There’s no “wrong” way to make it a part of your life, but do so.

Filed Under: Social Media Fundamentals, Tips Tagged With: Don't outsource twitter, facebook, Social Media, Tips, Twitter

GetGlue: Making It Real

January 6, 2011 By Jeremiah Staes 3 Comments

Making it real is the holy grail of making great experiences online. There’s only so much you can do with bits and bites. The magic occurs when you take it from 140 characters to 14, or 140 or 1400 people with a shared experience.

That’s the power of all these conferences, weekly get-togethers like Tweetea, and what I think will be the stratospheric rise of sites like GetGlue.com. Making it real. Because it’s made real, these in-person get togethers are an almost religious experience for some. What is GetGlue.com? It’s a service that helps you find new favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more based on your friends tastes. It also allows you to “check in” when experiencing media, creating a joined social experience, without the uncomfortable (to some) element of a check-in saying where your location is (i.e. Gowalla, Foursquare).

I’m no prognosticator, and I don’t have a list of predictions. But GetGlue.com is blowing up from all appearances for a few key reasons:

1) It makes it dead easy to post Facebook and Twitter updates. People will always look for shortcuts, and since it’s a shared experience, it’s even more powerful. The only suggestion I’d have for them is to automatically include the commonly accepted hashtag for items when you tweet when checking in from the site or your mobile app.

The power tip? The more others use shortcuts, the more original, thoughtful content becomes important and noteworthy.

2) It is a different kind of community of shared knowledge. It gives people something easy to talk about — their interests. Facebook is built around your friends, and GetGlue is built around your topics of interest. It found a different spin on connection. It didn’t try to reinvent Facebook; it’s doing something different.

The power tip? Don’t try to outdo the big dogs in their yard. Setup your own yard and be the big dog there.

3) They “make it real.” When you get 20 stickers, they physically send them in the mail them to you. There are all kinds of possibility for interaction. After all, music promoters will tell you that stickers are a must-have for any artist. But what would make it even better? Give us the option to pay to get badges that people can stitch in. Stickers are easy and cool, but even better if I could sew them on my backpack as badges of honor, which fits in with the quirky internet culture.

The power tip? Build community in a variety of ways, online and off. The web is a merely a tool for the real action… people connecting to each other.

What are your thoughts? Are you stuck on GetGlue?

Filed Under: Business, Foursquare, Location Services, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media, Tips Tagged With: Better online experiences, Get Glue, Making It Real, Social Media, why is getglue gaining traction

The 0.04% Foursquare Question – Is It Worth It?

November 3, 2010 By Jeremiah Staes 6 Comments

The Foursquare elections checkin map gave some very interesting data, and I’m glad they shared it – as it put Foursquare in perspective for me.

Here in Michigan, with a state as large as ours, we had 1713 checkins as of 11:30pm. At first, that sounds great.

But then let’s contrast that with an estimated voter turnout of 3,800,000 Michiganders.

That’s 0.044% of the electorate who checked in. Not even a tenth of a percentage point of Michigan (or any state for that matter – I don’t mean to pick on Michigan, their turnout was better than much of the country) voters checked in. In some states, there were 200 or 300 people, total, who checked in to vote.

This gives me a lot of pause when recommending strategies. Sure, there’s different applications, different markets, people aren’t always political, etc.

But the total number of checkins across the whole state being the same amount as go through one decent-sized polling station?

This raises a LOT of questions in my mind, even though Foursquare is growing fast.

Sure, Foursquare has 2.4 million US users – but let’s look deeper.

If that’s true as an actionable number (something we can use), why is it that only 49,421 (as of 11:30pm election day) people checked in to vote? That means Foursquare voter turnout (within the userbase) would be about 2%. Sure, we’re lackadaisical in our country about voting, but our voter turnout rate (about 37% nationally last mid-term election, so we’ll use that number) is way higher than the foursquare user turnout of 2%.

If Foursquare reflected the country, you’d get a number along the lines of 37% of the total (which is the midterm election turnout last time around), which would then be represented in about 888,000 checkins across the country. Let’s give Foursquare the benefit of the doubt and base it off of young voter turnout – some estimate that between 20%-24% depending on who you talk to. Still, the numbers aren’t adding up – after all, not all foursquare users are under 30.

There’s just something not right;  you’d think with how much the social media crowd talked about check-ins and Foursquare it’d be something of major importance you might need to throw major resources at – but the numbers show that is not true, at least right now.

Don’t get me wrong - location as a concept is very important, and will become more so. But I’m starting to think it won’t be in the context of the check-in, but in the enhanced delivery of information or in other ways.

Filed Under: Business, Location Services, Online Marketing Fundamentals, Social Media Tagged With: foursquare, hype, location, location services, michigan election, Social Media
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