Archive for the ‘progressive’ Category

Balance Mobile Site Puts Spotlight on Alberta Olympians

Getting info about Alberta athletes, artists, events and news at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics is now made easy through a mobile website developed by Balance Media (www.ABto2010.com). Only accessible through mobile devices (think iPhone & BlackBerry), the site provides news about the Albertans at the games, their stats and biographies. An events schedule lets you know when they’ll be where, and maps show you exactly where to find them at each event venue. Check out the coverage of the project in the Edmonton Journal.

For iPhone app addicts, development partners Fission Media have developed a free app with similar functionality. Search AB to 2010 on the iPhone app store to find it.

Balance is excited about highlighting Alberta’s best (and the Olympics!!), and especially about the potential surrounding the use of mobile websites for other events in the future.

The project was funded by Winsport and the Alberta Government.

Posted by Andrea on February 17, 2010 in clients, progressive

Twitter: (aka: SXSW 2009: What’s the Buzz Part 2)

In case you missed my earlier post,  I travelled to Austin, Texas in mid-March for the annual SXSW Interactive Festival. It was a great time, and I wanted to share some more of the buzz that came out of the Festival. 

Twitter was everywhere at SXSW, as Adam blogged about. Many of you likely already have Twitter accounts, and know what tweets and hashtags are, and have maybe even sent a mistweet or two (or even a dweep–look that one up). For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, this webdesignerdepot article about Twitter will fill you in. It has some amusing stats and a bunch of third-party apps current twitterers might like, too.

Twitter is essentially a micro-blogging tool that allows you to instantly notify people what’s new with you, or what you’re doing right now. It’s locative too, meaning that Twitterers can get an idea of what’s going on in their neck of the woods. But really, the power of Twitter isn’t that you can see that Michelle is doing laundry, and Kevin is having a decaf, half-sweet mocha latte. The thing about Twitter is its potential to be a really powerful tool for businesses–both in helping to create and build on brand loyalty, and to gauge current feelings out there about trends, ideas and even your brand.

Scenario 1: You’re wondering what your customers are saying and thinking about you. Surveys and focus groups aren’t giving you current, honest, or even accurate information. Or maybe you don’t have the budget to do formal research. Hop on Twitter Search, type in your business name or a term relating to your industry (i.e.: mp3 players) and tap into the instant thoughts of millions of people. And not thoughts from last month, or last year like you might find with traditional forms of research, but thoughts from today and even this instant. And yes, Twitterers are VERY honest. If you’re curious how it works, go to Twitter Search and type in anything–your company name, a celebrity name–whatever interests you–and see the good and bad of what people are saying.

Scenario 2: If you’re only checking into what people are saying about you, it’s like you’re outside peeking in. You’re missing an opportunity to shape people’s perceptions of you–and either build on good feelings, or turn a negative experience into something positive. Get an account (either your company or you, personally), and tweet things of value. Some companies offer links to exclusive coupons through Twitter, which really gives people a reason to follow you if they like what you’re selling. If that scenario won’t work for your company, pass along links of value, advice from a professional, and anything your audience would find valuable. Twitter is a great platform to keep your customers on top of new services, product launches, changes to policies and other tidbits of information they would find useful. Keep in mind, your tweets have to be 140 characters or less, so keep it short and sweet! Don’t be afraid to show your personality: the most popular twitterers are honest, open and share their sense of humour.

Some Twitter stats:

• Twitter’s reach is so powerful, that in November 2008, they turned down a purchase offer from Facebook for $500 million.  
• March was a record month for Twitter–they doubled their traffic.
• The majority of Twitterers abandon their accounts after a month or so (60%). 
• Lots of celebrities have gotten on-board the Twitter train and some have received lots of attention because of it: Oprah (@oprah), Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), and Shaquille O’Neal (@the_real_shaq).

Posted by Andrea on May 8, 2009 in events, industry, progressive, strategy