SMM vs. SMO, What's the Difference?
Social networks are growing exponentially, carrying millions of conversations and social interactions and presenting a huge opportunity to increase your brand or business’ exposure. But, this growth means that the online realm is becoming more saturated with media messages and more complex to navigate. Newfangled approaches like gamification, QR Codes and NFC technology are springing up to capture user interest, but often the best approach is to pare your strategy back to the basics - findability and content (which have never been more important). These two concepts are reflected in Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimisation (SMO), two terms used interchangeably to describe marketing through social media. However, SMM and SMO do not mean the same thing, ...
Top 5 Productivity iPad Apps for Web Designers
We all know that iPad apps can be a major distraction. But, believe it or not, there are thousands of apps that will help, not hinder your productivity. So we’ve undertaken the mammoth task of sifting through Apple’s catalogue of apps to bring you our top five applications for the web design and development niche that inspire, boost productivity and organise ideas. These apps are guaranteed to help you get the job done. iMockups The must-have mobile wireframing and mockupp app for your web, iPhone and iPad projects. Draft wireframes in one easy-to-use interface with intuitive functionality and a multitude of colour options, text styles, borders and backgrounds. Better still, iMockup allows you to export your work via email. Adobe Ideas 1.0 This app will become your digital sketchbook, allowing you to capture and explore your inspiration on the go with vector-based drawing tools, zoom control, brushes and layers. The ideal companion for the Adobe desktop suite, the app allows you to save your files as PDF, vector or raster file formats to edit in Illustrator or Photoshop later. Air Di...
Movember: Using Social Media for Social Good
November (or should we say Movember) has crept up on us again, heralding the month-long charity event of ‘mo growing - where men donate their upper lip to raise money for men’s health issues, including prostrate cancer and depression. Registered “Mo Bros” start out on November 1 with a clean-shaven face and spend the month growing, flowing and showing a ‘stache for the benefit of charity. Movember has now grown to a worldwide movement, experiencing unprecedented growth in levels of support year by year. In 2010, registrations doubled to 447,486 and $61,806,647.00 was raised - an outstanding result for a charity group that originated in Melbourne, Australia. But how? In the good old days (before 2003, remember then?) nonprofits would raise money by door knocking, selling baked goods and soliciting monetary support from our neighbours. However, the advent ...
Qantas Grounding: Managing A Social Media Crisis
Social media erupted over the weekend after Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce grounded the entire Qantas fleet in response to the dramatic escalation of industrial action, stranding 68,000 passengers across the globe. The decision sparked a deluge of criticism and confusion on social media, as parody Twitter accounts including @AlanJoyceCEO sprung up, #qantasfail went viral, and the official Facebook page was overrun with users seeking information and venting their frustration. Admist the Twitter mayhem, frustrated Qantas customers even mistakenly tweeted @alanjoyce - an unsuspecting American university student. Now that Qantas is back in the air, it’s copping criticism for the way in which it handled its social media response, which is being branded “mechanical” and “impersonal”. One professional even went so far as to say Qantas will “never be the same again”. The issue is that while passengers weighed in on the debacle in the social media arena, Qantas went against the grain of it’s customer service strategy by adopting a one-way communication approach and leaving complaints and questions u...
