5 Billion Minutes

One of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recent history has been met with more than $22 million in $5 and $10 text-message donations, an unprecedented show of charitable giving made possible by the ease of small-scale mobile donations. And beyond these times of need, micro-support is gaining traction as a straightforward, accessible way for everyday people to support the causes they believe in, finance promising new businesses, and make their creative visions a reality in small, easy steps. – AdAge

Years ago, during a time of need such as this, most would have directed people online to make quick, easy and secure donations to help provide support. Raising funds online has now become the norm, and as many politicians, political groups and non-profits have demonstrated that it can lead to unprecedented success. However, taking that trend of pervasive, efficient donation campaigns to the next level is doing so via text messages.

The devastating situation in Haiti has demonstrated the widespread effect that a text message donation campaign can have on mass support and charitable giving. Many are attributing the huge success of the campaign to the fact that the barrier to entry is so low; most can afford to lump on an extra $5 to $10 to their phone bill, especially for a cause that they believe strongly in, and it takes all of thirty seconds to donate. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

As the AdAge article points out making micro-donations easily accessible, especially via mobile phones, opens completely new doors to reaching new and diverse audiences. And, with over 75 percent of the US population using cell phones, it only makes sense to take it to the mobile playing field.

Photo: The U.S. Army

The answer to the question in the title will hopefully be yes, but it probably depends on who you’re asking. It also depends what they consider a “good blog post”; in other words they all have different measures of success. The same is true with any Web site or online project.

Measures of success obviously can vary from project to project, but they can also vary within a project. In most cases there exist three levels of measures, for our purposes we’ll call them primary, secondary and tertiary.

Usually primary measures of success relate to an offline activity. Although some people may spend more time in front of a computer than away from it, there is still a real world out there - a world that revolves around exchanging money, voting, construction and other human activities. Thus some examples would include making a donation on a mobile phone, getting people to vote for a particular candidate, or winning approval for a new hospital. One or more of these are usually the “problems” a client will have when looking to partner with another firm. These are easily the most important measures of success.

Secondary measures have to do with the activities that lead to one of the primary objectives mentioned above. Since primary measures involve a serious commitment on the part of the end-user, a gradual process of building up to the ultimate goal is required. These nodes of engagement could include participating in an online poll or survey, posting a message on a Facebook Wall, or forwarding an email.

The way to judge the likelihood that the secondary actions will be taken by supporters remains the hard data of the tertiary measures. These indexes - like pageviews, open rates or Twitter followers - are the things successful managers follow on a daily basis; and their analysis will uncover trends among your audiences.  This will in turn allow you to optimize campaigns to drive up the response rates measured in the primary and secondary goals.

Taking a step back we have seen that measures of success directly correlate to a campaign goal.  Measuring those goals can be done on a variety of levels in this case primary, secondary, or tertiary.  These levels could also be called Offline, Engagement, and Indicators, respectively.

The goal of this post was to pass on some knowledge for the offline world, I hope it is measured as a success.

Each week like clock-work, a flimsy plastic bag full of supermarket circulars inevitably ends up at the front door. You know what I’m talking about. Those bags that pile up with coupons that you trip over Sunday morning. Our clients Vertis Communications and Nash Finch Co. were looking to reduce the psychological and environmental damage of the never-ending stream of shopping circulars when they hired us to create an iPhone application for the Family Fresh Market brand of stores in Wisconsin. *iTunes link

The IWS-developed app has several features — all of which are managed by a custom content management system that allows the market’s supplier to publish specials in real time. Customers who download the app can easily check what’s on offer in the Fresh Meat, Produce, Deli, Fresh Bakery, and Floral aisles whether they’re at home or pushing a shopping cart around the market. With a simple flick of the finger, you can even add these items to a shopping list along with anything else you need to pick up at Family Fresh.

Users also benefit from Well Balanced tips which aim to help make healthy decisions easy. For instance, buying low sodium varieties of canned vegetables and rinsing them thoroughly is a quick way to lower your salt intake.

Creating a branded app like this is an excellent way to offer customers something they can use while also streamlining communication to them. eMarketer claims close to 75 percent of consumers with iPhones use apps. With this trend clearly growing, it’s safe to say that a relevant or entertaining iPhone app could build a stronger connection with your customers.

With unemployment and poverty at all time highs, IWS took to Twitter during the holidays to help raise awareness of the demand placed upon food banks during the past particularly trying year. The holiday campaign, dubbed “Tweets of Hope,” inspired Twitter users to retweet a simple message and $2 would be donated to the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB) and Share Our Strength.

The campaign generated over 2,000 retweets, and has generated close to 200,000 impressions. Despite being slightly shy of reaching the goal of 2,500 tweets, IWS delivered a $5,000 check to both AAFB and Share Our Strength. The $10,000 donation to the two charities will help provide 240 tons of food, or 140,000 meals in Arizona and the Washington, D.C area.

At IWS, we’ve always strongly believed that we all have a responsibility to do more good. Max Fose, president, says he believes that, “…We all have a responsibility to give back. We’re fortunate enough to be in a position that we can, but even if we weren’t, we would do whatever we could.”

While social media is still somewhat in it’s infancy, is an excellent platform for charitable contribution campaigns. Social media, as a platform, is a lot more effective in generating widespread exposure and motivating the masses to participate, since activity is generally more visible. When people recognize that a large group is pushing an initiative forward, they become even more likely to participate. As opposed to ads and email marketing, it has the ability to showcase in a much more meaningful fashion just who is behind this cause and how many people are supporting it.

Want to be a part of future campaigns? Be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Kelly Watson delivering another $5,000 check to Share Our Strength in Washington, D.C.

A recent report from eMarketer shows that having content accessible from mobile devices/networks is becoming increasingly important to end users of these devices. Mobile device manufacturers are challenged with where, how and when their users want to consume content. With the creation of netbooks, e-readers, gaming devices and super intelligent smartphones - users are craving more and more fresh content. Users of smartphone devices surf the Internet 3 times as much as regular mobile phone users.

So what types of content and marketing messages are best suited for delivery on smartphone devices? We can look at what many of the fast-food chains like Qdoba Mexican Grill have done. They have started mobile loyalty programs. Qdoba says they have seen good results from their mobile campaign, they claim an average rate of redemption on their coupons at 16% and as high as 40% in some college locations. Locally, I have noticed this trend as well with Jack in the Box and the Phoenix Suns. Whenever the Phoenix Suns score 99 points or more users who have signed up with the Suns text club can receive 2 free tacos. You could take your ticket from that night’s game into any valley Jack in the Box and redeem them for the free tacos. This is genius. The Suns and JIB (Jack in the Box) have figured out how to not only get more business but to build their customer list. And who doesn’t like free tacos?

Photo: nardell

Starting off the new year on the right foot, our own Max Fose was featured on the cover of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce’s Impact Magazine. In the article about three successful valley entrepreneurs, Fose tells the story of how IWS was born.

After working with Senator John McCain throughout the 1990’s, Fose, who had inherited an entrepreneurial spirit from his father, took a gamble on entering the political arena, specifically creating and mobilizing advocates and supporters all within the online realm.

When asked what kept him motivated to forge his own path, he says, “I’ve always loved setting my own pace, betting on myself, investing in myself.” And, it’s definitely paid off. Marking the new year, IWS has hired five new employees and expanded into a new office. In his own words, he says that, “there’s a direct correlation between the harder you work, the greater your success.” And, anyone who knows him will tell you that he’s one of the hardest working people that he’s met. And as a true beacon for the right kind of entrepreneurship, he’s incredibly passionate about what he does and securing record-breaking results for clients. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that, “For the past 10 years I’ve never thought of going into the office as a job.”

To learn more about IWS and to read the full article, check out Impact Magazine.

Those owning and working for small to medium sized businesses are predisposed to have a lot on their plate. The focus tends to be on keeping up with client work, internal to-dos, etc. and it can be difficult to develop and manage an active social media strategy. Discussed here are a few low key & low maintenance things to think about, and hopefully will spark a few ideas that really make sense for social media.

Does what you do tap into people’s passions? Remember that social media is a vehicle for sharing special interests! Encourage your audience to comment on or contribute to blogs, share photos of events, products in use, etc. People will inevitably converse about their leisurely pursuits… Bonus.

What can you show off? It’s OK to sometimes! If you’ve got a product that you can demonstrate or talk about in a video, do it on YouTube. If your company has a great portfolio (or potential), show that off with a dynamic website or a Flickr account and sit on it. If you specialize in services, get the audience involved and encourage that they share their experiences on the social media sites. There’s a niche somewhere.

With that, are there identifiable niche communities that regular customers or clients tend to naturally congregate? What advice can you offer in your area of expertise?

Small business owners and entrepreneurs have an advantage in that you can establish yourselves online, while listening in. You don’t want to completely overlook traditional ways to expand your business. Meaning, promote social media efforts both online and off – even something so small as putting your twitter handle on your business card can have great impact.

While you’re in the trial and error phase, track and measure – minimally. No need to be nitty-gritty about metrics if you’re starting small. But, keep track of sales. Have they increased? Set-up a Google Alert. Who’s talking? Above all, ask for feedback and have fun!

Image: jjsala

One trend that has continued through 2009 is that the browser wars have become increasingly competitive. According to this report of browser market share, Internet Explorer lost 7% of the market in the year ending in December. This probably isn’t a surprise as it’s been happening ever since Firefox - who celebrated it’s 5th anniversary in 2009 - hit the scene. What is surprising is that Google’s new brower, launched in 2008, now occupies third place, just recently surpassing the Mac-based Safari.

Nonetheless, Internet Explorer retains the lion’s share of the market with 63%, followed by Firefox with 25%. This has important implications when designing and developing a new Web site. However, the most telling sign of what browser your readers are using remains your analytics data.

Looking through the Google Analytics reports of several clients, the market share broke down a little differently. On average, our client Web site were view in Internet Explorer 74% of the time, Firefox 17% and Safari 6%. However, I noticed a wide disparity among browsers depending on target audiences. For instance, for a trade association client whose subscribers average between 40 and 55 years old, the breakdown is Internet Explorer 82%, Firefox 12% and Safari 5%; while a sports blog with a younger following had a breakdown of Internet Explorer 46%, Firefox 32%, Safari 17%.

One explanation for this discrepancy has to do with mobile phone usage and age. A poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion shows that more than one-fourth (26%) of those younger than age 45 own a PDA, compared with just 10% of those ages 45+. This means a lot of younger readers are using their mobile device to view Web sites. Generally these devices do not use Internet Explorer as their browser - with the ubiquitous iPhone using the Safari browser.

Therefore when it comes time to test your new Web site in various browsers and allocate resources to ensure compliance, it is crucial to understand your audience segments and recognize which browser they most likely use.

According to ComScore, blogs combined receive 77.7 million unique visitors each day in the United States. Furthermore, 77 percent of active Internet users read blogs, according to Universal McCann. That’s an audience the size of over 175 million people in just the United States alone.

Of course it’s great for your company or organization to have a blog, but what happens if it’s not reaching the right audience, or a sizeable one for that matter? That’s where blogger outreach comes in. Is there something your company just created or launched? Is there a really big event coming up? Is there something exciting you just have to share? It there an issue that’s a hot topic that concerns your organization? Those are all great opportunities to use bloggers to help disseminate your message. So, how do you get them talking?

#1: Provide an incentive. You may be thinking “What else does John from Oshkosh, Wisconsin have to do besides blog about my cool new product?” but the reality is that many of these people pour their heart, soul and free time into their blog’s content, and they often can be picky about what they choose to share. So, in order to ensure that your time is well spent, make sure you provide an incentive. Maybe it’s cold hard cash, an exclusive peek at the new product, an all expenses paid trip to the event or some free schwag – whatever it is, providing incentives shows bloggers that you respect them and value their time and efforts.

#2: Pitch when it really matters. An obvious example is with new technology. You don’t want to pitch a review of a cell phone after it’s already hit the market, you want to offer bloggers a free new phone, months before anyone else can get their hands on it. If there’s a new tech toy coming out, you better believe interested consumers will do their homework months in advance and often will have made their decision before the product even goes on sale. You want to make sure that your pitches are relevant and timely.

#3: Branch out to reach a wider audience. Let’s say your organization is dead set against the latest health insurance reform bill. Instead of speed dialing your go-to political blogger, think about who else you could be reaching. Think about who’s most concerned about health issues on a daily basis. Got your answer? If you guessed moms, give yourself a pat on the back. Looking for a mommy blogger who is on the conservative side would help spread your message and reach an entirely new audience. But remember to make your message relevant to them, not you, for example pitching scenarios of how the bill could potentially affect moms and families.

photo: Nele en Jan

The Delaware County Daily Times - out of my old stomping grounds of southeastern Pennsylvania - did piece on my web site last week in conjunction with the Phillies quest to win a second consecutive World Series.

They can be found in Denver pubs, the cafes of Rome and in the sports bar at the Gen. Patton Barracks in Heidelberg, Germany.

And Brian Michael will tell you their numbers are growing.

“You can go to pretty much anywhere and you will find Phillies fans,” said Michael, the 28-year-old founder of PhilliesNation.com

Thanks to Michael and his 10,000-plus subscribers, those fans have had a place to share insights, frustrations and love of all things Phillies since the site went live a few months after Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004.

“I grew up in Philly and had moved away to Washington, D.C.,” Michael said. “I was finding it hard to get all my Phillies information, so I decided to put it all in one place.”

Read the entire “Phillies Nation growing through Web site” article…

With one part science and one part guesstimations, social media firm Vitrue says they’re seeing Facebook’s click-through rates prosper.

Under Vitrue’s formula, the click-through rates for Facebook brand pages look great — better than the average e-mail campaign and far less expensive than a standard online ad.

Click-through rates for display ads on Facebook have traditionally been panned. But the click-through rates for content on brand pages’ walls are as high as 6.49%, according to estimates from Vitrue, decimating estimates for traditional ads of lower than one percent.

What does this mean for your business? It means you can’t rely on a traditional advertising campaign if you want a high return with social media. You have to play by their game. You have to be social.

Facebook’s demographic turns to the site for interaction, entertainment and information. If you’re offering those things on your brand page — and promoting the page — you’ll see better results and get your message out to the people you want to hear it.

Interested in the exact click-through formula? Vitrue shows their math at AdAge.com.

The Economist recently highlighted some examples of the use of maps to promote social change.  From cancer, to gun violence, obesity and the housing market, maps have long been a useful way explain complex concepts and layer data.  But even before you drill down to the data maps offer, Wendy Brawer, founding director of GreenMap.org points out,

“Maps are really helpful for that ‘Aha!’ moment.”