Thrudigital

I am my family’s tech support.

I came to accept this fact a long time ago and have since got used to the idea that as soon as I return home for a weekend I won’t be allowed to leave (or in some cases even eat or sleep) until I’ve fixed all the problems with every technological entity within the building that I call home. On my last visit I discovered that they had purchased a brand new DVD/Hard Drive video recorder for the lounge. I should mention that this is the third video recorder that they have purchased in as many years and, just like the other two, it’s truly awful.

When my Mother is trying to set the new video recorder for Coronation Street in the ad breaks before X-Factor (whilst also attempting to dish up dinner and stop my younger brother from killing my sister), she doesn’t want to be trying to work out which of the 58 buttons on the remote she needs to press to change the recording quality – or why her last three recordings have all ended up with subtitles. Instead, she wants easy to use controls that allow her to set up the recordings, without being bamboozled by acronyms, jargon and irritatingly abstract trademarks.

Of course my parents, like most of the population, have become accustomed to the idea that video recorders are complicated and confusing beings that cannot be tamed, and that they will always be this way. This has led to complacency on the part of the manufacturers, who are perfectly happy introducing even more of the aforementioned acronyms to describe new features that aren’t really needed, but never stopping to realise that the products they’re making are a complete pain in the arse to use. It amazes me that no-one in the companies producing these devices that grace our living rooms has realised that it might perhaps be a good idea to produce something with an intuitive and pleasing interface, as few buttons as possible and a clock that can be set without a PhD in electrical engineering; to strip it back to the basics and keep it there until the basics work perfectly.

We use this very approach here at thrudigital – keep the idea as simple as possible to start with – refining until it’s as reliable, friendly and well designed as well feel possible – before adding any extra layers of complication.

Writing about Apple’s success with the iPhone, John Gruber posted a reference to ‘Gall’s Law’, which states:

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.”
JOHN GALL

One thing that I think Apple were wise to do when launching their phone was to resist adding everything at once. They were slated on launch for their lack of MMS, Copy & Paste and native third party apps – but what was there had clearly been refined and simplified until it was a joy to use. I’m not saying it was perfect, but in choosing to focus on the basics they allowed themselves the time and the simplicity to get the fundamentals right and defy the critics.

So, whether developing website, video recorder or phone, keep things simple and allow yourself the time to focus on the details. It’ll pay off. And please, somebody, somewhere, get working on that video recorder.

[These posts are written from a presentation I gave at Mediapro 2009]

Social media. It can be confusing and undefined. It’s definitely a buzzword. It’s got its fair share of “gurus.” But it’s picking up sizable budgets from consumer-facing and business-to-business companies. And even at this early stage, it’s proving effective.

This first post will explore the concept. A second post will look at the ways that companies can engage. Then we will explore what are the major opportunities for brands. Finally, we will look at some case studies of industry leaders (as well as some obvious examples, I will show you a case study you won’t have seen – a small company with a small niche that has made £700k by engaging its customers). And hopefully a conversation will be sparked somewhere along the way.

So, firstly, the big question. What is social media? Rather than try and give a catch-all definition, here are the themes that underly the concept of social media. It is:

• The move from one broadcaster, to millions of voices.

• Media disseminated through social interaction.

• Where the audience is also an author.

• Enabled by very scalable and approachable technologies that facilitate the conversations.

And why should you care?

Well… this is not a fad. It is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Back in the late 90’s, brands were asking the ROI question of websites. “Is it worth it? Why should we bother?” Ten years later, having a website is not only one of the first things you do when launching a product or company, but it goes far beyond “marketing.” It is a platform for commerce, communication, research, tools, data, news, sales, and much more. The same will happen with social media in due course. It changes how businesses operate. Companies that engage early, will build competitive advantage, but in a few years, most industries will be exploiting the benefits.

The horse has bolted. Don’t bother closing the stable door.

The marketplace where you do business is now transparent, not controlled. It is consumer-driven, not product driven. It is no longer possible to broadcast messages and expect them to be swallowed by your audience, without uncontrolled conversation and feedback. Forget battling to hide your dirty laundry. It is already being examined, analysed, and discussed in minute detail, in thousands of distributed and very public conversations.

All humans have a desire for control. So this world sounds extremely worrying. And many brands are burying their heads in the sand to ignore the conversations they wish were not happening. But the upside is that in this new world your customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do, however, expect you to listen, respond, be honest, and do your utmost to serve them.

Your degree of openess, and your revenue growth, will be directly related. (Gerd Leonhard)

As a quick example to round this post off, recently we launched an application for ASOS (see site here), which aggregates the conversation around their brand, and classifies it as positive or negative. It’s a forward thinking move, which demonstrates a willingness to engage. And as well as the web version, it is now displayed on plasma screens in the lobby and cafes. This a method for enabling customers to become advocates, focus groups, marketers, product developers, and a community of interest.

The personal touch

Customers much prefer a personality to a professional facade. We are moving from a world of broadcast TV, PR-checked messages, and aloof corporate leaders, to one of scrappy, user-generated YouTube videos, public conversations with your staff on forums and blogs, and direct connection between your CEO and your customer via Twitter. Your personal face trumps your professional one.

Homework

I hope you are doing some of these already, but as a very first start, prove to yourself that there is a conversation worth engaging with online:

• Search Google, Facebook and Twitter for your brand mentions.

• Set up a Google Alert to notify you when more people mention your brand

• If you are a small company, search for related products, competitors, and topics to find out what is being said.

Over the next posts we will look at how companies, both large and small, can best engage, what the most valuable opportunities are, and successful examples of what others are doing.

To get the followup posts over the next few weeks, simply add this blog to your RSS reader, follow thrudigital on Twitter, or subscribe to these posts by email.

Press Release

ASOS.com Launches Twitter Feedback and Reviews Site ASOSreviews.com

Summary

LONDON (November 13, 2009) – ASOS.com, the UK’s leading online fashion store, has launched ASOSreviews.com, an exciting Twitter-powered feedback and reviews micro-site. The site follows ASOS.com’s hugely successful launch of ASOS Life, an online community that facilitates interaction and conversation between the brand and its consumers.

James Hart, eCommerce Director at ASOS.com, said ‘ASOSreviews.com is a great way for us to keep in touch with and be open about the real-time feelings of our customers. Its bright, visual nature gives us nowhere to hide and I’ll be making it not only visible to our customers but to all of our colleagues at ASOS HQ as well. It’s also a great feedback tool and the great thing is that the loop is already closed as our customer care team already monitor and respond to tweets directed at us 24/7. We are excited about the launch of the site and have some interesting plans for its future development.’

ASOSreviews.com aggregates and displays positive and negative tweets about the brand, and encourages users to tweet their opinion about their ASOS.com experience. The site also visualises the overall sentiment of the brand and displays an interesting word cloud overview of what people are saying.

Charles Dalton-Moore, Managing Director of thruSITES, the social media development firm that built the site, said ‘ASOSreviews.com is designed to give a snapshot of customer sentiment on ASOS.com whilst encouraging ASOS.com’s online community to engage with and talk about the brand. We very much admire ASOS.com’s boldness in launching the site and taking the leading social media approach of any fashion retailer. Many other companies out there have yet to wake up to the reality of social media and should take ASOS.com’s example of learning from and engaging with their online community.’

About ASOS.com
Established in June 2000, asos.com is the UK’s largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer. With over 25,000 branded and own label products available, and 1000 new lines added each week, asos.com is rapidly becoming the market leader in the UK online fashion world. Aimed primarily at fashion forward 16-34 year olds, asos.com attracts over 5.6 million unique visitors a month and has 2.7 million registered users.

About thruSITES

thruSITES is a London-based strategic web design and development agency specialising in community sites and social networks, plus social media apps and widgets for a range of networks. thruSITES works with large multinationals and government organisations, directly and via top marketing agencies, as well as smaller clients and web entrepreneurs.

Key Words

asos, asos.com, asos reviews, community, twitter, social media app, thrusites

Links

http://asosreviews.com

http://www.asos.com

http://www.thrusites.com