The Rational Blog - written by a different team member each week, for your blogging enjoyment.

Why Users Always Need More: A Look into Facebook ADD and How to Battle It.

May 26, 2011

Tags: , , — Alexis @ 9:23 am

“You got the wrong TV silly head!”

You’ve probably seen the latest Best Buy commercial, “outdated world.” The ad shows clips of peoples’ frustration when they find that their brand new “high tech” gadgets are considered outdated.

The truth is, these things wouldn’t sell if they weren’t a step above the previous product. It seems the time increments between new technologies are becoming progressively shorter—along with our attention spans. While this is a ubiquitous trend across many industries today; it is exceptionally noticeable in the realm of technology.
This phenomenon isn’t necessarily counterproductive or harmful, but it does imply side effects on consumers that growing businesses cannot ignore.  It’s almost as if today’s average consumer mirrors the behavior of a superbug. Bear with me. If it’s been a minute since your last 7th grade science class, here’s some review:  A superbug is essentially a bacterium that develops several resistance genes through genetic mutation, in turn causing antibiotic resistance. As resistance becomes more widespread there becomes a greater need for more advanced treatment. Sound familiar? This superbug concept parallels behavioral trends in technological consumerism. The superbug being the consumers and antibiotics being innovations: in order to satisfy the consumers’ needs, the innovations must be that much more advanced, that much more creative, convenient, and/or efficient. With every “one-up” comes greater expectations from consumers.

In order to stay in the game most businesses will follow suit, adopting the “one-up” concept that had been pioneered by another company (whether it’s a new device, software, strategy, design etc).  While initially ground-breaking, that original concept inevitably becomes standard, expected, and even boring.

Let me give you an example that almost everyone can relate to. Name a grocery store that does not have an “advantage” card from which customers receive discounts or points. I can’t. One grocery chain initiated the advantage card concept, and others have followed suit. We now find ourselves shuffling through our ridiculous collection of “advantage” cards at the register for a mere thirty cent discount on a gallon of milk.

This phenomenon partially explains why you cannot measure success by how many fans your Facebook page has.  Much like a grocery store advantage card, having a Facebook page for your brand has become standard. The average Facebook user is connected to 80 community pages, groups, and/or events (http://www.Facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics). In some cases, users will “like” a page only to later ignore updates and news feeds—I’ve done it. The second I see a long company-promoting blurb accompanied by a profile picture or logo, it’s an automatic switch off.  My attention is immediately on to the next news feed.

How can we battle this? I have three solid recommendations.

1. Think out of the box—for real this time.

By this I mean go beyond the Facebook routines you’re used to.  Think of how the Facebook platform can be manipulated to specifically fit your brand. Axe’s recent “multiple girlfriend” app illustrates this perfectly. It allows fans to change their relationship status—Axe style. Instead of, “John M. is in a relationship with Ashley,” the relationship status reads, “John M. is in a relationship with Ashley and 268 other girls.” This is effective on many levels. First, people don’t initially recognize that it’s marketing a brand. All they know is that their buddy John has a pimp relationship status, and they want one too. Secondly, you’ve made your fans look cool and in-the-know. They stand out because of your app—your brand has raised their baller-factor, if you will. And finally, you’ve put your mark directly on your fan’s profile. Instead of quick news update that’ll be buried within a few minutes, this will potentially remain on their profile for a long time. Can we say viral?

2. Keep updated with new Facebook features.

This is a no-brainer but certainly crucial. Keep your brand up-to-date with all new features. Facebook recently added capabilities to tag pages in photos. In other words, a photo with your brand in it can be tagged and one click will lead directly to your page. They may be small updates, but they count.

3. Be truly beneficial to your fans—what’s in it for them, really?

Sure special Facebook discounts and coupons are great, but they’re also standard. I’m talking about making the fans feel good about themselves. Whether one dollar is donated to a nonprofit for every photo with your brand tagged, or making Axe fans look like high-profile players, fans are cooler by associating themselves with your brand. This association is powerful, as it creates emotional investment in your brand…much better than printing off a 20% off coupon for a purchase of $50 or more that expires at the end of the month.

So the next time your brand is struggling to emerge from the pack, remember the superbug concept. In an ever-changing, ever-competitive world it’s a constant fight to the top. Tattoo these three suggestions to the back of your hand, or alternatively, keep them in the back of your mind. You’ll need them.


Here are a few articles for additional reading:

So You Like My Brand on Facebook. Now What? How You Too Can Turn ‘Likes’ Into ‘Loyalty’
The Number Game : Why Facebook is not just about number of fans?
Facebook Comments: What’s Easy Isn’t Always Right
Facebook Comments, Now On Over 50K Sites, Get More Social With Latest Upgrade
Facebook Now Allows You To Tag Pages In Photos

HTML 5. What is it and when can you start using it?

March 28, 2011

Tags: , , — Patrick @ 1:52 pm

There are some misconceptions about what HTML 5 is and what it can do.  I’m here to clarify and inform you of some of the neat little things that are available to us through the currently-in-progress update to HTML. I say “in progress” because it literally is still being developed and is not entirely final.  That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t–or shouldn’t–start using some of the new features laid out for us.  A good majority of browsers already support the current spec and there are ways around the ones that don’t.

To start us off, for some of the new people out there, HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.  HTML is the standard for presenting and structuring web content. It does this through the use of tags. Tags generally are semantically named based on the content they are enclosing.  For instance, “<form> </form>” would encapsulate “<input />” in which the user could ‘input’ their email address or password.  Or for another example, “<button>Click Me!</button>” would show a button with the text “Click Me!”.  We also have the ability to insert videos and audio using the <embed> tag, but this will generally require the user to have the necessary plug-in, such as Flash, installed. Now this is all well and good, but as the web becomes engrossed with more innovative websites and browsers become more robust, the need arises for more tags and features. We also should have the ability to embed elements and have them run natively (without plug-ins) in our browser. This is where HTML 5 comes in.

As stated previously, HTML 5 is the latest update to the HTML specification and it encompasses lots of new semantic tags as well as many different features and benefits.  HTML 5 is not some magic panacea, though. I’ve heard people “Ooh” and “Ahh” over neat websites that use fancy JavaScript and say “That must be HTML 5!” Really though, HTML 5 is not a single entity that you just start using all at once. It is a collection of features that you can pick and choose from. In fact, a lot of the new features are not even supported in a few not-so-modern browsers.  Does this mean you should wait until the lagging parties catch up to start using the cool, new stuff? Well, as I said before, HTML 5 is not a cure for a terrible website, so you shouldn’t think using it will solve all your problems. Truly, most of HTML 5 is already being used on your existing website anyway. This is because HTML 5 is just an update to an already very old, tried and true, HTML specification.

“So what’s the big deal then?” Well, HTML 5 is all about making things simple and easier to understand.  When it comes to tags, there are many new and useful semantic tags to dig your keyboards into. The HTML 4 way of creating a layout for a page was to create many arbitrary <div> tags and assign them an id or class.  Some examples are:  “<div id=’navigation’></div>”, or “<div id=’header’></div>”. With HTML 5 we have a much simpler way.  Similar to how the <form> tag specifies form content, we now have tags such as <header>, <nav>, <article>, and <section>.  There are many more of these new tags, but that should give you an idea of the usefulness that comes with them. Along with new structural tags, we also have new multimedia tags such as <audio> and <video> which allows you to embed audio and video natively in the browser without the use of any plug-ins or APIs such as Flash or Silverlight.  HTML 5 also brings us other cool things like a geolocation API in which you can use to access the user’s position on the globe. (With their permission, of course)

“All this stuff is cool, but I can’t use it unless all browsers support it, right?” Well, actually the structural tags in HTML 5 are almost completely backwards compatible with HTML 4. For any of the advanced, spiffy things like embedded video, audio or geolocation, you can implement detection libraries that will let your code know if the current browser supports it, and subsequently enable or disable those specific features accordingly.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that the new tags and features that come with HTML 5 are ready to be put to use and played with. Even if you’re not going to be putting them to use in a production level site, you might as well get acquainted with them because they won’t be leaving anytime soon.

Anyway, I hope I’ve shed some new light on this buzzword that’s been flying around the Internet. For some of you, I may have just made it worse. Either way, I hope I got you excited to learn more, because I have hardly scratched the surface in terms of all the newly available cool things you have at your disposal.

If you want to read more, there are plenty of in-depth resources that you can dig your hands into. Here are some sites that I’ve found most useful:

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/previewofhtml5

http://diveintohtml5.org/introduction.html

Here is also an HTML 5 compatibility chart to use for reference:

http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus/

Now, get out there and start using HTML 5!

Mobile App or Mobile Web Presence: Building a combination that works

February 23, 2011

Tags: , — Tony @ 11:37 am

More and more users are connecting to the Internet through their Smartphone and a plethora of embedded mobile devices.  While many businesses are still adapting their internet strategies, millions of users are going mobile every day.  These days having a mere internet strategy just does not cut it.  Mobile is the future and it is happening now.  Do you have a Mobile Internet strategy?

It is very easy to buy into the current trend of rich user experiences using mobile applications.  Everyone wants their own cool iPhone, Android, or WP7 mobile application, but it is neither viable nor cost effective for every business model.  Here are just two things to think about when making the decision between trying to be relevant with a Mobile App and grabbing consumer mind share by building your Mobile Web presence.

Don’t just follow the trend for the sake of it.  Mobile Apps are what’s in, but that does not mean it fits within YOUR mobile internet strategy. More often than not the mobile app route is chosen for the wrong reasons.  Mobile apps should be utilized in situations involving lots of transactions and the exchange of large amounts of data.  Does this sound like what you need?  Many mobile web users are still using mobile sites as only a means of getting info like addresses and phone numbers.  Creating a rich user experience may just be wasted effort, but more importantly wasted company dollars.  Users want movies times and may not care about watching movie trailers.  The biggest battle is going to be between how to stay relevant while remaining accessible to the broadest audience possible.  The key to gaining consumer mind share is being accessible, and that will be achieved by creating a Mobile Optimized Web Presence.

It is important to have a Mobile Optimized Web Presence and User Experience, because everyone believes that their web site will perform the same on their mobile devices as on their PCs.  Even with advancements in mobile device hardware and intelligence hence the smart phone, the caveat to this logic will be longer site load times.  Many sites have gone ballistic with flash and rich media content.  Without a separate mobile optimized user experience you will risk losing consumer mind share as more users go mobile with their internet surfing.  Also as more users go mobile, creating a mobile optimized web presence will continue to give you visibility on search engines.  This is because many users still rely heavily on search engines as the primary method of grabbing information from the web.  Imagine users seeing your site pop up on Google, but then opt to go to the competitor because of your site load times.  It will be a social circle nightmare. Soon, even being relevant won’t bring you back to life.  Cool apps won’t be relevant without the proper amount of consumer mind share to be hypnotized by the app’s sleek and sexy appeal.

My opinion, you ask?  Being relevant does not matter if you have an audience of two.  A robust mobile strategy will first seek out consumer mind share through a pleasing Mobile Presence which will continue to be enhanced with a sleek and flashy user experience to keep their short attention spans.  Be relevant but make sure you know the size of your audience.  Otherwise you might find that you are throwing dollars out to capture an audience of two.

Facebook fan page, check! Now what?
How to make the most out of social media.

February 4, 2011

Tags: , , , — Laura @ 2:15 pm

You’ve heard the buzz about social media. You’ve decided that since everyone else is doing it, you should too. You have a brand new Facebook fan page, and are ready to sit back and watch the fans come running in. Right? Wrong!

Social media is all about involvement and connectivity. The brands with the most active fans are the brands with the most active and highly thought-out campaigns. What better way to show a brand’s willingness to interact with its audience than to seek out fans (or non fans) who post comments about the brand on Twitter? That is the premise for the series of commercials done by Wheat Thins, in which a mobile squad by the name of @CrunchisCalling surprises fans who have Tweeted about Wheat Thins. A woman lamenting her lack of Wheat Thins is surprised with an entire palette; a man named Tim is given the solution to his problem: crunch-proof headphones; and someone who thinks the commercials are a fake is turned into a believer, as you can see at http://www.nabiscoworld.com/wheatthins/index.html. In this way, fans are now Tweeting about Wheat Thins in the hopes that they will receive a visit from the Crunch is Calling and Wheat Thins have never been the subject of so many updates.

Other ways to generate active audience involvement is through user-generated content, contests, or good-natured rivalry fan pages (think college Facebook group challenges like “I bet UW can get 100,000 fans before WSU.”) The Doritos contest for the best fan generated commercial was a huge success with the winning commercial being aired in a coveted slot in the Superbowl, and created a huge amount of participation from fans with the brand.  All of these examples allow the audience to take a more active role and thus feel a greater connection to the brand.

Another great way to have a viral campaign is to create customized content for the audience. The Discovery Channel did an excellent job with their personalized Shark Week campaign, Frenzied Waters:

Shark Week Case Study from Campfire on Vimeo.

Frenzied Waters created buzz for a week long video series of famous shark attacks. The “frenzy” was started when several well-known bloggers around the country received capsules with artifacts from their own personal shark attacks, including clothing and obituaries. Naturally, the bloggers shared their strange packages on their blogs, which drove large numbers of followers to check out the Frenzied Waters site for themselves, and, with the use of Facebook Connect, be the star of their own shark attacks. Facebook Connect allowed Frenzied Waters to compile photos and profile information that was incorporated to create an eerily personal attack for the site visitor.

From delivering a mid-afternoon snack craving to putting your audience right in the action, social media can be used to create active and engaging campaigns for your fans. Still growing your fan base? These tips can help:

  1. Have a plan. Creating a fan page is not enough to maintain a fan’s interest. Put thought into integrating social media with current company campaigns and make sure to maintain your brand image.
  2. Start a blog. This will help you grow your audience and contacts, as well as allow your contacts to interact with each other.
  3. Follow other blogs. Get out there! The more you interact with others, the more opportunities to connect.
  4. Be Linkedin. Connecting to other professionals is important, as well as recommending clients (remember, recommendations work both ways!)
  5. Update content and post regularly. Fans know when they are being neglected.
  6. That said, keep posts and updates relevant. Remember quality, not quantity.
  7. Have a solid site. Utilizing social media will direct more people to view your site; make sure it is ready for the added scrutiny and represents your company authentically.
  8. Avoid gimmicks and spamming. You will lose your credibility and your following.
  9. Allow comments. Positive feedback is always welcome, and negative feedback can be constructive and allow you to evaluate public perception of your brand.
  10. Thank visitors for their comments. They invest time in your brand, you invest in building relationships and maintaining brand loyalty.

You now have your Facebook fan page, some helpful tips, and a burning motivation to create the next viral social media campaign. The only question that remains: what will you do next?

How do I make sure my website is optimized for the iPad?

January 24, 2011

Tags: — David @ 1:31 pm

With 14.8 million units sold it’s pretty safe to say that the iPad is another smash hit for Apple. Many marketers are now asking how to optimize their websites for this touch-enabled device.

Approach
When we approach a mobile strategy for our clients we often recommend an integrated solution which includes a mobile optimized site, or a stand alone application. That’s because users are interacting with smartphones on the go, so you want to make sure and optimize this experience for them. Task oriented and simplified presentations are often the best way to go. On the other hand, tablet computers, such as the iPad, are used in a different way. Sometimes on the go, sometimes on the couch, but usually not while driving, walking or shopping. That means that the user experience, while different, is still pretty similar to the experience that users have while using desktops and laptops. Most often, websites we build for those interactions are appropriate for iPad’s, with some tweaking of course.

Tweaking
There are many things you can do to optimize your site for tablet devices such as the iPad. We can’t cover them all, but here are a few that will get you on your way. First, think about the technology available. As many of us know, Flash isn’t going to work, so make sure your site has a back up if Flash is heavily used. Substituting HTML 5 for Flash elements is a good solution. Tablets are also a touched based interface, so the way we access information is a bit different. If users on your site roll over components to get more information (think dropdown navigation) those elements aren’t likely to work on a tablet. Think about changing to on-click to facilitate those interactions. Another important thing to think about: fat fingers. Human fingers aren’t nearly as precise as that little hand that pops up when we rollover a link on our desktops. Links need to be big enough to touch without inadvertently clicking the button right next to it; often a few extra pixels of space is all you need.

Interested in learning more?
Check out this article on Ad Age, or give us a call. We’d be happy to talk to you about how we can devise a mobile and tablet strategy for your website.

Is your website the center of your digital universe? If not, it should be.

January 6, 2011

Tags: , , , — Selina @ 2:53 pm

At Rational we often encounter organizations that still struggle with putting the web first in not only their marketing initiatives, but their IT and customer relationship initiatives as well. The reality is that making the shift to put the web first often requires huge organizational shifts. Marketing needs to work with IT, and IT needs to understand marketing. Often there are different goals between the groups that make changes even more challenging. That’s why we get excited when we have the opportunity to work with clients that are in the process of making this important transition. When organizations do make the decision to put their website first, they can look forward to more meaningful relationships with their customers, and customers will interact with their website in new and more meaningful ways.

If your organization is struggling with a website centric marketing plan, check out this article from Ad Age. There are some great ideas about how to make that shift, and how a Chief Marketing Technologist can play a role.

Are you still watching Bounce Rate? Read This.

February 28, 2010

Tags: — Jason @ 11:10 am

If you’re a smart online marketer, you’re using Google Analytics or another analytics suite to watch the stats for your site. One of the stats you might be obsessing about is Bounce Rate.

Bounce Rate is simply the percentage of visitors who come to your site and leave without clicking through to another page. It’s one of the more important stats in the Web analytics toolkit. However, a one-size-fits-all approach to Bounce Rate can be conterproductive.

The conventional wisdom says one of a webmaster’s top goals is to minimize bounce rate. Typical ways of reducing the bounce rate are contextual “see-also” links, targeting based on inbound search queries, and the like. But a single-minded focus on bounce rate can waste your time and resources!

When bounce rate doesn’t matter

Before advocating a focus on Bounce Rate, you need to take a hard look at your site’s purpose and audience. Are you a content provider or aggregator, like a news outlet, blog, or user generated content site? Then users are coming to your site more and more through Twitter, Facebook, and other user-generated sources. These users WILL bounce.

These users bring you value in several ways: viewing and clicking through on display and text ads, as well as sharing and re-tweeting of your content. On a site like this, it may be best to forget about bounce rate for a while and focus on your top 5 traffic generating pages. Create more content like those pages, and get the word out even more through Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Google, and other inbound sources! The added traffic you drive will be worth more than one more click from an existing user.

The key to increasing the value from these users lies less in keeping them on your site and more in keeping them coming back! In a future post, we’ll explore more about to drive return visits.

In the next post: When bounce rate is not enough

Rational welcomes you to our blog

February 18, 2010

Tags: — Jason @ 10:58 am

Jason Kelly here – nice to meet you! I’m VP of Technology and Engineering at Rational. We’re truly excited to be knee-deep in the most exciting era yet of interactive marketing and technology.

Stay tuned for news and analysis about the things that excite us.

Please follow us on Twitter – we’re @GoRational.

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