Would Monkeys Use Qype?

As a follow up to my previous article on colour theory and web design (The Thin Red Line), here's an article on why Macaque monkeys may be worried about searching on Qype too.  Now, that sentence has to pique your interest!


Stop On Red! The Effects of Color May Lie Deep in Evolution… - from The Association for Psychological Science

 

The Thin Red Line

When choosing colours for your website, make sure you understand the cultural and emotional relevance they may have to your users.

Qype, the user-generated local reviews site, uses red as an accent colour and as the text colour for it's field labels.

It confused me for a bit.

Let Them Tweet Cake

I'm celebrating almost a month - time flies - with the digital team at Macmillan after taking over as caretaker social media officer.  And I've been both immediately impressed and inspired by the approach they are taking to social media and their online community.

There was cake in reception when I arrived on my first day. Not for me, admittedly, it was one of the receptionist’s birthday - but quite a first impression.  And on being led through the greenery of the office for the first time I noticed sweets and cakes at the end of virtually every bank of desks.  It's obviously something that's encouraged I thought. Or a philosophy that breeds lots of micro-sugary actions.

And that's not the only thing I like that's being encouraged. What's really refreshing is the desire to involve staff in social media and encourage them to actively uphold the principles and values that underpin the organisation: the values that give them immense pride in the work they do.  By helping them to understand the tools they can use to communicate the brand.

But it's by no means about asking them to shout loud and demand action from supporters.  Nothing is demanded of any member of staff.  Simply, the language of social media is explained so that they can feel confident joining the conversation. And be sure of the place they're coming from when they engage in their social networks.  If they see something they like they can share it with confidence.

And it's an approach that I think will lead to an increase in inspiration being turned into action. Because when you do need action, when you do need a few ripples for a cause, you know the power of the people in your network, you know how to reach them, and all you need then is to ask them to have their cake and tweet it.

The real cost of social media

Here's an interesting infographic on 'the real cost of social media'.

I like the comment:
'Sleep is the real cost of social media.'

Internet World

Just a few notes from the seminars I attended on Tuesday 10th May...

Email, social and the art of storytelling - John Sadowsky.
John gave examples of a few companies that had effectively used storytelling in their marketing, across email and social networking sites, mixing and matching different things to get high response rates and engagement from customers.



Bike Friday sell folding bikes that business travellers can take with them anywhere. Lots of their email content is user-generated – sometimes they run contests for the best stories from customers about a place they’ve been with their bike, or a time they have used it, which people can add to the Facebook page.



The best one appears in the email with their regular promotional material. Customers also upload videos of how quickly they can collapse their bikes (apparently quite competitive!), to the Bike Friday YouTube channel. Though they have a small customer base, they have a very engaged community.

Mydeco.com is an interior design company who have an online area where people can decorate a room. Customers compare their ideas with others so there’s a lot of sharing ideas within the community. World class interior designers also take part. This looks like it would be fun to play with.

Filofax generates stories around questions asked on Twitter and Facebook pages e.g. How did you feel when you lost a Filofax? When did you get your first Filofax? This shows how 'online communities tell the world what a brand means' rather than brands telling communities.

Mathon is a French cooking utensils company that runs regular competitions for the most exciting/inventive thing people have cooked using its products. Has a big fanbase and buzzing facebook page. So, apart from the case studies, the main points John made were:

• Find a 'passion point' in a related activity to your company. Any company can do this, e.g. pots & pans = cooking
• Brands can co-create with communities. User-generated content is usually more credible marketing than company generated content, so mix the two

How participation is creating and deepening relationships with audiences, from Meg Pickard, Head of Digital Engagement at the Guardian.

This was a fast paced talk, with a lot packed in, so I would really recommend watching Meg for yourself than reading my slightly erratic notes!

7 Simple Elements

Whilst discussing primary and secondary buttons on websites (the kinds of chats we have here), I came across an informative article from Sun's Web Application Guidelines.  There are really good points and examples included in the body, such as:

"In some situations, such as where the user might lose a large amount of input data, present a confirmation alert before allowing a Cancel action. Also, when the meaning of the action is not clear, additional and/or different text may be used, such as "Cancel Wizard" and "Return to Wizard.""

7 Simple Elements

Seeing your brand 'out there'

It was great to see Macmillan's full brand title appear from the mists of keyword relationships, like a... thing... from... somewhere foggy...