What digital tools are actually good for #4: Blogs

We all know what blogs are - and how enjoyable they can be to read. The most entertaining are the opinionated ones, I find. But others focus on sharing useful ideas and news, which I like, too (and that’s what this one aims to do…)

With so many people now using other social media like Facebook and Twitter, is it possible that blogs could now be redundant?

As I thought and read about this question, I was struck by what is great about blogs - and there's plenty. 

I ended up with this list of 9 things. They’re all good reasons for blogging. And while some of them are certainly true of other digital tools, it's the combination that is unique:

1. They are easy to update and quick to add to.
2. They give people a reason to keep on coming back for more.
3. They increase your online exposure - potentially getting picked up by other sites, blogs & tweets.
4. They facilitate conversation and community - with the opportunity to comment and respond.
5. They can integrate well with your other communication tools.
6. They reach an already interested audience.
7. They are a great way of sharing what you think and what you know.
8. They last for a long time - especially compared with e-newsletters & Facebook.
9. They increase your search engine visibility - something you can pay a fortune to try and achieve…

The list certainly has us convinced so, although we're taking a holiday and this is the last post until September, we’ll be back again then with more fortnightly thoughts about Digital Media In The Voluntary Sector (I like to think of it like Alice In Wonderland, only a tad more practical…) 

See you then! And until then, have a great summer, everybody!

Read more

• Why blog? www.blogtrafficexchange.com/why-blog-ill-tell-you-why/
• 10 reasons business blogging is better than Facebook: http://socialmediatoday.com/node/476102
• 10 tips for effective blogging: www.suefidler.com/resources/

What digital tools are actually good for #3: SMS

Isn’t SMS (that’s text messaging if you’re wondering) a bit old hat these days, given how many people have smartphones with easy email and internet access? 

That’s what I thought before I started researching this blog – but it seems that I was wrong. It turns out that 58% of mobile operators believe that use of SMS and MMS will be in the top 3 marketing tools by 2015. 

How popular is SMS?

The stats for SMS and mobile use are astounding: 

• 91% of adults own and/or use a mobile phone in the UK (Ofcom; Q4 2011).

• A mobile phone is one of the 3 items that people don’t leave home without (the other 2 being their keys and their purse/wallet).

• SMS achieves average open rates of 98% (compared with email’s 22%).

• SMS messages log click-through rates of 19% (compared with 4.2% by email).

Why is SMS still so widely used?

According to econsultancy.com, SMS is currently the most popular use for mobile phones almost everywhere on the planet. But why, when so much else can be done these days?

• Compatibility: standard SMS is compatible with every mobile.

• Affordability: many mobile networks offer free SMS as part of their contracts or top-up deals.

• Ease of access: SMS messages are limited in length, which makes them more attractive to sender and recipient.

What’s so good about SMS for an organisation?

SMS allows you to be wonderfully light on your feet as an organisation because of the:

• Speed of delivery (it’s very quick to put an SMS campaign together).

• Cost-efficiency (it’s a very cheap tool compared with, say, email).

• Control for the recipient (you can only text someone if they’ve opted in – and it’s easy for them to opt out), making people more likely to open and respond to your message.

• Massive open rates (see above).

• Speed of opening (calculated to be within 15 minutes of delivery in 90-95% of cases).

• Fast, clear analytics (you’ll know if it’s working on the day you send out your SMS campaign).

• Ability to target content to the recipient.

What can you do with SMS?

Apart from one-way, bulk text advertising, there are a lot of clever things you can do. Many of them work with other communications tools (email, websites) to help develop stronger two-way relationships with your supporters:

• Use short codes to invite people to take part in a survey

• Use short codes to let people select the things they’re interested in hearing more about

• Share links  to your mobile website

• Invite ideas by giving an email address

• Share QR barcodes for information and deals

• Contact supporters in a particular area with locally relevant information (using GPS or Bluetooth)

• Pay per call ads

• MMS messaging (sharing video, audio or images)

So… if, like me, you were about to write off SMS as a bit of a dinosaur, think again. Its reach is incredible and it is cost-efficient, effective and engaging – exactly what we all need. 

Read more

• Why SMS marketing is still relevant in 2012: http://blog.textanywhere.net/post/2012/06/12/Why-SMS-Marketing-Is-Still-Relevant-In-2012.aspx 
• Why use SMS marketing: http://blog.textanywhere.net/post/2012/02/13/Why-use-SMS-Marketing.aspx 
• 8 reasons why you should use SMS marketing: http://www.mobilemarketingratings.com/eight-reasons-sms-marketing.html 

What digital tools are actually good for #2: Websites

I realise I didn’t really put this series of blogs in context when I started it last week. It actually started with a conversation I’d been having about the latest great technological development. The person I was talking to was wondering whether the new tool was worth getting into (‘there are so many new developments all the time and each one just wipes out the one before!’)

I understand this point of view but I don’t happen to agree. Being a digital veteran (having first worked on the web in 1995 - ouch, could I really be that long in the tooth?), I’ve seen so many new developments over the past 17 years. And with each one, people have wondered whether previous developments are going to become obsolete. 

But they haven’t… In fact, it seems to me, as I look back over the way things have gone, that: 

• although there is always a huge amount of excitement with a new development
  
• for a while, people think they just have to try it
  
• they expect it’ll make older tools redundant
  
• over time, each new development find its place. It becomes clear what it’s actually good for. 
  

And so far, I reckon each of them has found its place over time. Hence this series of blogs, where I’m aiming to show why each of the tools is worth using.

So… websites! They’re rather old hat, aren’t they? Surely no-one uses them any more, especially now that we’ve got social media?

Well, the good news is that they’re not – and they do. The NNG report that I mentioned last time (see below) talks about email newsletters by comparing them with websites. It makes it clear that websites are still used – a great deal – but what’s crucial is recognising what they do well. So here is my list of what websites are for (it’s quite short):

• Finding things out
  
• Doing something (for example, buying a product or booking a ticket)
  

That’s it!  But it’s important. And we need them.

What it means is that people don’t want to linger or even really connect with a website. They just want to find what they’re after and then leave. So functionality, navigation, writing… these all need to be excellent. People will love our websites if we make sure they can arrive, do what they came for and leave, quickly and easily. Simples!

Read more

• Email newsletter usability (NNG Report): http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/summary.html 
• The best 119 websites for all your needs: http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-website
• What is the purpose of a website? http://elure.co/42_what-is-the-purpose-of-a-website.htm 

What digital tools are actually good for #1: Email

I was reading the summary of a recent Nielsen Norman Group (NNG) report on email newsletter usability. It was as interesting and carefully researched as their reports usually are. But that wasn't what particularly grabbed me.

The thing that I found most interesting was the very different reaction that users have to emails, compared with other digital tools. What they saw was a more emotional reaction to emails than, say, to websites. 

There is something about these communications that arrive in your inbox. They feel personal. And in the case of email newsletters, there really is some kind of ongoing relationship. 

Email newsletters seem to be able to create a genuine bond between users and an organisation. 69% of users in the NNG study said they look forward to receiving at least one regular email newsletter. The majority of users said that an email newsletter had become part of their routine. As the NNG report says, there are very few tools that 'can claim this degree of customer buy-in'. It is an exceptional opportunity for organisations.

This strong emotional connection does have a downside, however. It can lead to fairly extreme emotional reactions. The NNG study tells this story:

'... a user received an error message that read "Email address is not valid." This would be a poorly worded error message in any user interface, but the emotional aspect to newsletters increased the user's anger: "Mine's as valid as the next person's! ... It's questioning my validity as an entity in cyberspace."'

An extreme reaction, maybe, but the NNG study found that this was not unusual.

Knowing this, it really is crucial to get rid of any usability issues with the emails we send out. Errors and error messages are part of that. And so is mobile display. Mobile reading of emails increased by over 82% between March 2011 to March 2012. With 72% of people having admitted in a recent survey that they read emails on their phones in bed and 77% saying they check them 'everywhere', we have clearly got to make sure that our emails display well on mobile screens. 

Email is clearly an excellent tool for building one-to-one relationships. Neglect it at your peril if this is an important part of what your organisation needs to do.

Read more

• Email newsletter usability (NNG Report): http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/summary.html 
• How to improve your email marketing: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/inc-well/How-to-Improve-Your-Email-Marketing-149425465.html 
• Mobile devices set to dominate internet email usage: http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/05/mobile-devices-set-to-dominate-internet-email-usage-by-the-end-of-2012.html