According to Forbes eMarketers are already projecting Twitter to make $130 million in mobile ad revenue. Facebook, on the other hand, is projected to pull in just $70 million even though they have about 7x as many users as Twitter. Facebook busted onto the scene and seems to have leveled off in popularity; ala MySpace some 6 years ago. Twitter, on the other hand, decided to play a tortoise’s version of the race and has slowly and steadily gained users and a loyal band of merry, merry tweeters. This band of loyal tweeters has been egged on by celebrities and major companies responding directly to their commentary. Frankly, Twitter makes users feel important and the excitement of having Ashton Kutcher retweet a comment is good enough to update repeatedly in a day; simply.

So, why is Twitter poised to take over the social sphere? Simply put, they have what people want. Twitter is a platform that takes insanely well to the mobile community. The app works and is gorgeously simple. The entire concept focuses on the mobile space and people around the globe are in love with mobile activity. Twitter loads faster than Facebook and was created as a microblogging entity. This “microblogging” feel makes people feel okay about updating 20-times a day. Most Facebook users try to keep their updates at bay; lest they be hidden from the news feed. Tweeters are more active than Facebook users and they check in more often. Facebook has seen a 30% decline in page views over the last year, according to Forbes; that’s a massive problem.

When Facebook became a superstar people were tied to laptops and computers. The large profiles and extensive options made sense at that time; just as the sparkly themes of 2003 made perfect sense for MySpacers. Twitter exists in a simple, watered down atmosphere that is quick and easy to access; exactly what current social media users are looking for. Twitter is what makes sense post-smartphone revolution. Plus, advertisers are beginning to fall in love with the platform and the hash tag system that allows them to see exactly what the tweeters of the universe are going on about today.

Essentially it looks like Facebook has simply had its moment and it will eventually slump off into the sunset of another social media site gone rouge. That isn’t to say that people won’t save it. MySpace is currently in works to “reinvent” themselves, but the process isn’t an easy one. Twitter is growing because of its user base and mobile property. Facebook simply doesn’t have the capacity to be a super-mobile entity and people are desperate for that at the moment. Facebook is doomed for a life of mediocrity while Twitter is just getting started at the party.

Axcept Media serves both start-ups and established businesses as they shift their marketing budgets towards new and emerging media options. And, we understand where they are coming from. As a small business built from the ground up, we know the importance of reaching your target market in engaging and innovative ways with limited resources. The most engaging messages are those that will reach your audience and enhance your brand.

New companies often start with a “microsite” that uses high impact video or animation to raise awareness and introduce the key product or services. It used to be that a basic web site showcasing the company, leadership, and an overview of their services and products was enough. Now, the value of an introductory video that explains the Company Mission gives the viewer a window into the full experience of working with that company. This can be about the specific product or service, the market, or some differentiator that compels the viewer to action. For an example of the impact that an initial video can have, check out the video on our homepage. In two minutes, you feel like you KNOW who we are and what we do.  How much reading would you have to do to make sure that every visitor to your website got that message?

Effective use of new media and emerging technologies is critical to communicate your brand and why you matter to your audience. More and more data suggest that social media and brand perception is the most important form of advertising and marketing. You need an engaging, information rich web presence, but you can no longer assume that you control HOW people will get to your site.

Another trend is building an effective mobile presence. Every day we hear, “I want my audience to be able to access my company via their mobile devices.” Sounds simple, and we can show you a variety of paths to for that strategy. A recent study by IDC estimates that U.S. Internet users will access the web more frequently using mobile devices than wired computers by 2015.  From our experience, it’s happening much faster than that!  We work with our clients to design a mobile strategy with new media elements that will be flexible, cost effective and powerfully engaging.

To get you started, we have a “starter pack” of services.

Basic: New web based “microsite” reflecting your company brand and style guidelines with an interactive presentation that describes your company, products and/or services.

Comprehensive: In this package you get everything in the basic package, plus mobile optimization of your Microsite, social media integration linking your existing social media accounts to your microsite.

If you have any questions on how we can get you started with new media AND mobile capabilities that will Engage, Educate, and Motivate your audience, give us a call or email us!

Video is rapidly replacing reading as a way to capture attention and inspire action. Interest in interactive media and now mobile is dramatically increasing as bandwidth constraints are mitigated. People tune in when information is presented in a more personal manner, with the ability to ‘take action immediately’ upon hearing a message. Mobile phones and tablets have become mainstream, and people expect to be served their most important information using online or mobile devices in a clear and engaging presentation. A great way to engage employees with an interactive communications tool is through a social media. Now this goes beyond social media platforms, like facebook and twitter, to the core of what social media really is. Social Media is a communications platform that fosters interaction between users on a given topic by using video, interactive and mobile tools. In the Metlife Study, 74% of companies acknowledge that social media provides an easy and convenient way for employees to obtain benefits information. Yet, 70% of employers say that they do not use social media.

This shift in how employees and employers consume and create communications is happening as companies are facing incredible budget constraints and global competitive pressure. In many cases, internal functions like Human Resources, Training, Sales and Support have suffered serious cutbacks while the work they provide is in even higher demand. Interactive media is an effective way to leverage resources, increase efficiency, and actually increase the end result of any communication objective.

• Increase employee engagement by using new media to support corporate mission, vision and values messaging,
• Present employee benefits information in a more engaging format that gives employees and their spouses access to critical information any time, any place,
• Engage investors and the community by bringing external media like Annual Reports and Community Involvement to life with video, animation of key financial and community benefit information,
• Re-use digital assets across all areas of the company to avoid duplication of marketing communication, sales, financial and community benefit material,
• Increase the ‘WOW’ factor so both internal and external stakeholders see your organization as innovative – reducing dependence on paper and the costs of production and inventory, more importantly, ensuring real-time accuracy of any and all communications.

As a national leader in providing interactive and mobile solutions for employee benefits and corporate communications, Axcept Media offers the most creative and cost-effective solutions using new and emerging media. For example, many Fortune 500 companies have used our interactive Flipbook and Padfolio products to simplify their employee benefits communications during times of rapid change and increasing employee responsibility for health and welfare benefits. Engage, Educate and Motivate!

1. Identify your Content and Audience

Who is your audience and what relevant content do you intend for them to access via their mobile device? This is very important, as you do not want to be intrusive or inundate your clients and consumers with data that is not relevant. The goal is to maintain the current experience they have with your company whether on your website or at your physical location. Texting them daily deals can be beneficial, but sending them a text for every action within your SMS service can create a frustrated consumer.

Is your content dynamic or static information? Understanding how you want to present your content will help determine if you need the features of a “Native App” or just a mobile-optimized website. ComScore reported in December 2011, that as of November, market share looked like this among the top three smart-phones:

Google (Android) 46.9%
Apple (iOS) 28.7%
RIM (Blackberry) 16.6%

Google and Apple were the only platforms that gained since earlier in the year (Google gained 3.1% which is the same amount RIM lost). So when considering a native app, know that you limit your market exposure and that the market share for that device will fluctuate.

2. Determine how Mobile will Integrate with Current Marketing

If your current marketing is working within its medium and reaching its audience effectively, there is no need to bulldoze it for your mobile strategy. Instead, integrate it within your mobile strategy. This seems basic but we have experienced skepticism from marketing departments that collateral they have developed over many years will go to waste, when that’s simply not the case. Mobile platforms can provide another medium to reach your audience and even provide an engaging forum for more direct marketing and direct client and consumer feedback. If you have spent years building a custom website with its own CMS, CRM and e-commerce platform, your mobile strategy should work cooperatively with that instead of combatively. If you decided that your content should be more dynamic for your mobile strategy, new marketing collateral can be and should be developed to be specific to the mobile platform and device real estate you believe your audience should be reach on.

3. Be Realistic about your Budget

If you have spent time with the first two considerations, you probably have a good idea of the overall cost of your mobile strategy. So, is that strategy within your budget and can you envision the ROI to commit that investment? To help outline the differences for this blog post, consider it will cost you slightly less to build a mobile-optimized website than a Native App for a single mobile OS (iOS, Android, or RIM), and you will reach four to five more as many people with a mobile site in comparison to a Native App. So in dollars per user reached, your ROI with a mobile site can be more attainable.

So why develop a Native App you ask? Some mobile strategies have identified their content and audience with a strategy of dynamic user engagement. Perhaps your strategy involves an e-learning or a gaming app. Deciding to go Native can be all the difference in making sure the engagement level is present to bring the user in and keep them coming back. The overall mobile strategy goal may be user education, social interaction, or consumer confidence. The ROI could then be measured in number of users, social media “likes” or more traffic to your current websites or physical locations. But keep in mind that your reach to the market is only as big as the market share of the OS you have chosen. If you chose to create Native Apps for each of the three top platforms, your time investment reflects the cost and your mobile development costs triple, if not more.

Axcept Media is working hard with its clients to help identify their mobile objectives and create a strategy that fits within their current communications, marketing and sales processes. The goal is to build a mobile strategy that integrates with the framework of their current web and marketing collateral for a cohesive and cooperative user experience. Let your mobile strategy be the accelerant to your overall 2012 marketing initiatives. Engage, Educate, and Motivate!

When communicating complex subjects such as Healthcare, Employee Benefits and Financial Services, it is crucial to understand the many levels of learning and the steps involved in users making an informed decision.  Understanding how users learn and digest information can help us to design an experience that supports the user throughout their learning process.

Most websites invest the majority of their effort into streamlining the very last stage of the learning process: the action phase. It’s understandable: businesses make money through conversions. However, the company that best supports the user throughout the entire learning process has the upper hand in converting that loyal user into a paying customer.

Tyler Tate, UX Designer.

As designers we have to be constantly thinking from the viewpoint of the end user.  Here are a few examples of learning-oriented tasks which users carryout during their learning process:

Explore  –  The very start of the process.  We help the user to explore and discover information; not just the information that they are looking for, but also things they don’t know that they are looking for – the “unknown unknowns”.

Re-find  –  Putting an intuitive, concise system in place which allows user to re-find information that they would like to revisit later.

Organize  –  Organizing items and ideas into categories is key to the learning process.

Compare  –  Side by side comparison aids users in the analysis process.

Annotate  –  Annotation enables users to enrich collected items with their own notes and ratings.

Collaborate  –  We don’t often make decisions in a vacuum.  We ask the opinions of friends or family, we search for other peoples opinions online, we read reviews and look at feedback ratings.  This helps us as users to gain a wider viewpoint and feel more assured in our decisions.

By understanding these tasks we can integrate elegant solutions into our innovative learning experiences.

A further element that establishes a climate for self-initiated experiential learning is emphatic understanding. When the teacher has the ability to understand the student’s reactions from the inside and has a sensitive awareness of the way the process of education and learning seems to the student, then again the likelihood of significant learning is increased.

Carl Rogers, Psychologist.

At Axcept Media we are experts in teaching through interaction and engagement.  We specialize in guiding users through the learning process, helping them to digest the information and make confident, informed decisions.

Source

I am invited to five weddings this year. All of the invitations were paper invites but would it be appropriate to send an e-invite? I have read several blogs and although the e-invite has not yet been accepted by everyone, the paper invite is becoming less desirable. Some bloggers questioned the personable aspect of an e-invite. Others noted that the bride and groom are being cheap. Then, how should the bride and groom invite the no so tech friendly guests?

For those who question the lack of personable aspects of the e-invite, I completely disagree.  The internet allows newlyweds to share every special moment. From videos to stories, love notes, music, photo’s, best wishes, the possibilities are almost endless. I have been to several weddings and didn’t know the couples history together. How did they meet? Where was their first date? A paper invite will not have any of this information.

Every couple has a wedding budget and e-invites are less expensive than paper invites. With the money saved using e-invite, a larger budget can be put towards the food, reception location, drinks or honey moon. Most importantly, e-invites are a matter of convenience. Guests can R.S.V.P. by e-mail, see maps, click on links bridal registry, hotel locations, etc. With so much to do before the wedding day, why are couples continuing to make it harder on themselves and their guests when, the internet can make everyone’s life easier?

I would not expect everyone to have internet. Odds are that more people have access to the internet then not. For the few that don’t, make a few paper invites and do it the old fashion way. I don’t think couples can go wrong by sending a paper invite but I do think paper invites are disposable and forgettable.

Regardless of how a bride and groom choose to invite their guests, it’s their special day and it’s important to share it with their loved ones.

The Weather is finally getting fantastic in Minneapolis. Which means it is time to get outside and enjoy that beautiful sun and those delicious fruits and vegetables. There is no better place to do that then your local Farmers Market. So visit as soon as you can!

Minneapolis Farmers Market
Apptika Farmers Market Finder for iPhone
(Nice iPhone app, even though Minnesota is not included yet.)

Apple has just announced their new Mac OS 10.7 Lion early this week. With this latest release, Apple boasts some 250 new features.  Mission Control, Auto-Save and Version Control, resume an application where you left off and Full-Screen Apps are among some of the new things I’m excited about in this upcoming July release.

One of the biggest UI changes is LaunchPad: an iOS-style application launcher. You can still browse applications in the Finder, but if you hit the Launchpad icon in your dock, it presents them in a nicer way. That’s pretty much it. Folders show up in typical iOS style, and you can fit more icons and scroll around less (since it’s full screen).

With the introduction of Lion, Apple seems to going down the road of creating a unified UI for all their devices. Making the Mac more like the iPhone. Killing the desktop window and mouse in exchange for fullscreen applications and trackpad gestures. Apple has always been the innovator in the market of user experience but this time

Microsoft isn’t far behind. Code named “Windows 8″ boasts a lot of the same features as lion. The key differences are: where as the Mac more visually represents the iPhone, Windows 8 emulates the Windows phone and you’ll be using a touchscreen instead of a trackpad or mouse. The full list of features isn’t currently out yet but Microsoft has really taken a huge leap with Windows 8 (in Microsoft terms).  Release date for Windows 8 is set for 2012.

“These two new operating systems may be transition OS’s getting us ready for an even more drastic change,” said Noah Hamann (lead Front-End Developer at SocialFlow) in a recent interview.  As a Mac person and a designer, I need that precision tool of a mouse. Using trackpad gestures and touch screens doesn’t appeal to me, but I’m looking forward to some of the new features that will allow me to switch applications faster and more effectively.

Via [http://gizmodo.com/5809599/screenshot-and-feature-tour-of-mac-os-107-lion]

Via [http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/03/windows-ate-the-mouse/]

Knowing where to shop for a tablet in an electronics store can be a little confusing. Is it with the laptops? Is it with the smart phones? It doesn’t really fall into either category, which made people feel a little like they were looking for Waldo when going to shop for one.

Our very own Best Buy is coming out with “Tablet Central”, a specific area in their stores and online where people can shop and compare the different tablets out there.  The tablet market is booming, and Best Buy wants to make sure that consumers have the best experience in shopping for them at their stores.

It is thought that the iPad will still have its own area, however it remains to be seen if this will help or hurt sales of the tablet pioneer. It could help by showing that the iPad is in a category of its own, or it could hurt sales by not playing with the new kids. Most technology reviewers feel that the iPad is still ahead in the tablet game, so I’m sure they’ll do fine no matter what.

Tablet Central at Best Buy

New mobile OS popping up every other week can be a bit unsettling for aspiring mobile developers, as they face the constant need to update their programming arsenal. While the avid developer might be more than willing to pin another token to his infinite arrays of programming languages, it is wise and efficient to invest time in a universal language that could mold and work on any device irrespective to it’s OS.

Heeding the call of unity, HTML5 has been silently transforming itself into the savior of the developers as well as the users from the mobile division. There are numerous HTML5 frameworks specifically for mobile, and among them one particular framework, Sencha Touch, almost blurs the distinction between web apps and native apps.

The robust Ext JS backbone and an unparalleled highly efficient styling implementation using Sassy, that Sencha Touch embodies, renders web apps consistently through all the mobile platforms. The functionality and interactivity are identical to those of the native apps. With that the ability to control the data and look on the fly as with any regular website gives it an edge over restrictive native apps.