Motion sensing is probably one of the big modern fads of the moment in console gaming. First off the starting line we had the Nintendo Wii in 2006, a few months ago saw the release of the Playstation Move - a similiar concept to the Wii as an addition to the Playstation 3 console. Most recently last month we had the release of the Kinect for the Xbox 360. Possibly one of the most interesting of the three;
Within hours of going on sale, software engineer Hector Martin had cracked it, opening the doors for all kinds of playing around with Kinect's ability to calculate depth as well as movement. From drawing and recording in 3D space to gesture recognition... or maybe just playing some Mario on your PC.
A big well done to the little yellow YouTube subscriber button which made its debut back in 2006: It was reported by YouTube (28th Oct 2010), that fifteen YouTube Channels have now crossed the one million subscribers mark. Pretty impressive !!
If all this talk of subscriptions is new to you, then YouTube suggest you check out the above video, in which dear Cuddles tells you all you need to know about subscriptions.
We have a channel at YouTube, which we use to store videos we like (Geek, Gaming, Viral, Fun) and subscribe to those we want to hear from again. In 2011 we have (medium) plans to upload work related videos relating to Web Development, eCommerce, Mobile Web, Hosting and Search Marketing and will surely let you all know about them when live. We say medium plans, as our faces will be on the video, so don't want to hype it up, with the words 'big plans' just yet ;)
If you have a YouTube Channel and you want to encourage subscription sign up, all you need to do is embed a piece of code into the source code of your blog or website in the exactly same way that you would embed a YouTube Video (really easy).
In a change from the Dorset norm we all woke up this morning to flurries of white and a whopping 8 inches of snow in some places. Possibly making a few trips to work this morning a little more exciting then we'd ever want!
This masterpiece appeared outside our office courtesy of Andy, Dan and Dave from our Tech team sporting a jaunty hat and Fiona's fluffy scarf. We hope nobody had any snow based traveling mishaps this morning, and hopefully everyone had a better morning then this guy!
And whilst putting our artistic license towards creating snowmen is ok for some of us, it seems that Kieron, our Technical Director, prefers a slightly faster paced snow adventure.
More companies are noting in their web analytics that an increased number of people are using their mobiles to access their site, along side this there are increasing news reports highlighting that more and more people are using their mobiles to perform extensive research before making a purchase. Following these trends it isn’t surprising that Rocktime are receiving an increased number of calls for the development of mobile apps and mobile websites. Talk to the sales team to find out more.
Theses mobile stats help explain the trend further:
- In October 2010, the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau (IABUK) reported that 26.6 million people (59% of mobile phone owners in the country) had used mobile media such as apps or downloaded data to their handsets.
- Mobile web use is up sharply in the UK. About 31% of internet users said they went online via mobile phone in 2010, compared to 23% in 2009, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported
In following this trend, the Flashlight Team at Rocktime have been putting together a marketing document to help clients greatly improve the public’s interest, engagement and attention for their app / mobile website once it finally launches. They are working closely with the Sales team and Technical team to integrate marketing thoughts into the site build.
They share some quick tips below, and are happy to talk to you to discuss your mobile app / site marketing needs further.
QUICK MOBILE APP / SITE PROMO TIPS FROM FLASHLIGHT TEAM
During build of your mobile app / mobile site
1. Consider your customers online needs in building the app / site review your web analytics
For example: a hungry for Pizza customer may be interested in: • Order a pizza online • Pick up the pizza • Find a pizza takeaway shop • Pizza offers • Call for pizza • Access favourite pizzas
2. Explain the benefits:
For example a news website could push: “This new mobile site will allow you to browse through news and lifestyle headlines or articles on your mobile phone without having to load the full website” “With push notifications, the app will enable you to keep up to date with the latest news in your area”
3. Consider a mobile phones current functionality in the design of the app:
Click to call Geo location Camera Music Video Email Calendar Payment Devise Social network sharing
Tips in promoting mobile apps
• Get early attention and grow interest.
• Discuss in your news pages about your work in progress (where possible invite your customers to contribute to the final development).
• Show a teaser video on how the app will work > and how it seeks to make their life better (see above video)
• Possibly create a landing page for the App and if it is very exciting ie: not just a mobile version of the website, then promote it to the App fans out there, see what they think – and let them talk about you some more.
The Flashlight team are pretty excited about mobile developments and if you are a current client then I am sure you will hear from them soon, as they determine how mobile can fit with your overall digital strategy.
Giving further credence to the power of social networking, on the 2nd of November, eBay launched their Group Gifts service in the US (just in time for Christmas). See the above promo video from eBay which invites you to think 'Big'.
The service has been designed, say eBay to make “it easier for friends and relatives to chip in for gifts because it eliminates the headache of collecting contributions”.
How it works is: A gift is chosen, then others are invited to contribute to the gift via Facebook or email, they show their commitment via making the payment.
Should Group Gift Service make it to the eBay UK, I can see this working amongst my friends, for group payments for Hen Dos, Baby Showers, however I can’t see this working with older relatives, who unless this is advertised well may be sceptical about the security of this group gift option (if they haven’t heard of it before).
Group Gifts is just one of a number of social commerce tools currently being developed by eBay. Last week it unveiled a payment mechanism for digital purchases that allow people to make purchases through Facebook too.
It will be interesting to see how Group Gifts takes off in the US.
Facebook say Facebook Pages allow you to: “Connect with your audience, share your story and participate in real-time conversations quickly and easily on Facebook”. Read more over at Facebook here; http://www.facebook.com/FacebookPages
The below provides quick tips from the Rocktime Flashlight team on how to build a community on Facebook using Facebook Pages.
Building the Authentic Community
Facebook for business should be about genuine, valuable interaction with fans the most effective way to build the community is by engaging with your customer base. Critical mass online often takes time, remember it was the "Tortoise (slowly but surely) that won the race, when the Hare took a little nap”. Talk to us more about this analogy if you like, basically it sums up that slow organic growth in social media is not a bad thing.
Your Facebook Page needs to be engaging and interesting to ensure your fans/customers/potential customers, keep you in their news feeds. It doesn’t need to be “wham bam wham” with production of chat on your page wall, you just need to talk to your fans at a time suitable for them (when they are most engaged). Ads can be used to give your community a boost, perhaps expanding to a new demographic, but the key is content, content, content.
Lessons in Engagement
Give your fans a reason to visit
Get them to love your page so they can recommend you to others
Provide interesting insights of value (to the fan)
Share news
Competitions
Deliver informative information which indicates that you know your industry and don't constantly promote your products or service
Give people a reason to talk about the page
Introduce people to the reasons as to why they should be visiting or liking the page
Be chatty & human to encourage conversation and ensure ongoing interaction
When delivering Facebook Ads, keep the target audience in mind, deliver an ad that will resonate with your fan rather than shouting about how great you are
Advertise on the Facebook page to encourage further interaction on your site
Make a note of all your customer touch points (Newsletters, Lost password, Page 404 not found) and how you can advertise your networks of interaction there to encourage Facebook Page fan growth
Finally, keep it real (think topical stories and conversations)
Considerations:
People tend to join a community when they see it has many fans already. You may develop a campaign (on or off Facebook) to encourage fans to join, but you must always return to the quality over quantity argument - will you get return?
You will if you devise a campaign closely linked to your target audience, that will deliver value. A biggy to consider is that when launching any campaign attention needs to be given to the resource of social media & a strategy established for this to work. Along with delivering Facebook Pages strategy the Rocktime Flashlight team can assist with these Social Media resource issues, talk to us to find out more.
If you would like to share any further tips for Facebook Page Growth, feel free to comment below. I am sure we could share more, re: Facebook Mark Up Language (Facebook HTML) and Social Plugins, Apps, Multi Channel Integration, but we simply wanted to provide a simple list of 'do's', that our readers can use to help them get on the right track to Fan Page growth.
We have been moaning recently about the premature Christmas adverts on the telly, which all seem to include dancing & singing this year (Iceland, M&S, Confused.com). We are pretty confident that they will all become very annoying by the time Christmas arrives.
But here's something that we're not moaning about; Amazon has brought the American "Black Friday" retail campaign to the UK. Yeah!! A popular campaign in the States, where shops (both online & offline) slash their prices to encourage shoppers to part with their Thanksgiving bonuses.
What does this mean to us? Whilst we might not have any Thanksgiving bonuses to burn, DISCOUNTS on the other hand are always a good thing.
Amazon state that for the first time ever, they will be replicating many of the deals for UK users on Friday 26th of November. They are promoting "unbelievable, pinch-me-to-prove-they're-real, Black Friday deals", the nature of which will be revealed on the 22nd of November.
We hope you grab a bargain, we will certainly be checking out their deals on tech and gadget stuff, cameras, consoles, games etc.
Here's hoping the deals live up to our expectations.
The Rocktime team aim to keep you up to date with the latest in digital trends. Blog posts relate to web developments, mobile, e-commerce, search marketing, social media and all things Geek. Feel free to join in the conversation.
Posts
