L&S Unscripted

Each day I am amazed by the savvy technical skills of little kids. While I still much prefer my external mouse, when my 4-year old hops on the computer, it’s incredibly natural for him to maneuver the laptop mouse, keyboard and arrows. It stuns me. He has the lingo down, too. I’ll hear, “Mom, you got an e-mail” when my Outlook makes its distinct chime. And once he arrives on a web site, he navigates through without hesitation… the funny thing about kids is that they just keep clicking until they find what they want – they don’t get frustrated, unlike many adults.

You may be thinking, “Really – you let your 4-year old use the Internet?” I do, but with caution. We have an awesome toy plug-in that works with the Internet – Fischer-Price Easy-Link Launch Pad – it essentially locks all other computer activity and allows kids to play very specific games. It’s awesome. Alternatively, another favorite in my household is Playhouse Disney. 

Beyond games, kids are also exposed to various forms of online communication – when I’m on Instant Messenger or Facebook, my son’s curiosity is always piqued. He’ll ask, “Hey Mom, who are you talking to?” Fact: he says “talking,” even when I’m IMing or texting. Kids are growing up with an entirely different view of communication options… they know that it’s not just verbal. Social media has also arrived for kids: check out Disney’s Club Penguin and Webkinz.  

It scares and excites me to think about where technology will be when my 4-year old is in his 20’s. First came technology, then came social, and experiential is next. Get ready. Look at how experiential the Wii is – computer activity will follow suit.

Plugged-in and parenting,

Robin

My husband and I are upgrading to smart phones. Up until this point, our cell phones have been, er, not smart (to say the least). We are also combining our single plans into a shared family plan, something that’s long overdue.

So we’ve been on the Verizon web site a lot, without a lot of luck. We found the phones we wanted, but we couldn’t figure out how to get the online discount on both at the same time. And we couldn’t access the family share plan with those phones selected, but we couldn’t figure out why. After a reconnaissance mission to the local Verizon store, we confirmed with their salesperson that our desired combination of phones and plan was a possibility. But as we would save 300 bucks buying online, we left the store and decided to have another go ourselves.

And we almost didn’t make it. Until a friendly chat box popped up – “Can I help you?” And “KaylaK” did, very well. She explained that we first had to upgrade on our single accounts and buy our phones, and then we could combine our plans. She walked us through this, step by step. She stayed online 26 minutes after their customer service lines closed to help us finish. Sure, some of the responses were obviously canned, but they were also thorough and that was good enough for us. Our new phones will arrive in one to two business days.

The more I am exposed to site design and optimization, the more I realize there is no “perfect” web site. While you can provide good paths and clear navigation for your visitors, they are still human and unpredictable. Site visitors are like water in your basement, they will always find the cracks in your foundation. Sites change and evolve constantly as products are added and processes are tweaked, and something in the user experience inevitably gets bumped or shifted. So the answer is to fight humans with humans – provide a real live person who can answer as many questions as your site users can come up with. Live chat is an effective, easy and cheap way to add an element of human interaction to your web site. Because, like Bruce Springsteen says, “I just want someone to talk to, and a little of that human touch.”

In an increasingly plugged-in world, don’t we all?

Krista G.

Watch this video.

RU LOL?

I luv 2 txt.  4 those of u not well-versed in txtspk, I’ll use a combination of appropriately spelled words and SMS language in this pst.  Wait, I’ll b/u. SMS is short for Short Message Service.

y does txt or SMS matter?  According to CTIA-The Wireless Association®, 363 billion SMS messages were sent in 2007. Additionally, the Mobile Marketing Association reports that in the next few years, a majority of brands will use txt and multimedia messaging to reach their audiences.

Does this mean txt will rule the world?  No, but in 2day’s fast-paced market, we need to understand the evolution of an ever-changing communication system so that we can compete 2mro.  Just as e-mail mktng is not the only way to advertise or to reach every audience; SMS is just another tool we can use to deliver a message as prt of the marketing mix.

Here are just a few things to consider when engaging in mobile marketing:

• SMS has a lmt of 160 characters of txt.  It’s concise.  That’s its beauty. Use txt 2 gt straight to the point. No photos, logos, sound, just txt.  SMPL.
• Mobile devices r our BFFs.  I doubt that any of us will be giving up our bbs or cell phones anytime soon.  It’s always w/ me n I nvr lv hm w/o it.  
• Consumers r asking 4 it. Typically, as a paying wireless consumer, I’m opting in to receive txt msgs from my personally preferred vendors.  Asking permission makes it easy for u 2 knw ur rching a consumer who wants to hear from u. As a consumer, it’s a convenience for me to get up2dt info about products or services I use.

As you dv hd frst into mobile marketing, ask urslf, is my msg promotional, informational or just marketing?  In any case, it’s probably a good fit for a txt tst drv.

CU L8r

BJW