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Archive for March, 2011



David Haase

03/30/2011

More Social Media & Content Expertise for IWS
05:29 pm by David Haase

We at IWS are pleased to welcome Rebecca Miller as the newest member of our social media and content team. She joins us as Social Media and Content Producer.

Rebecca has more than six years of content development experience and for the last two years spearheaded social media efforts at a local interactive agency. She has already put her expertise to work for our biggest clients.

With digital communications becoming the dominant form of reaching audiences today, we believe social media and content are vital to the success of any business, non-profit or political or advocacy campaign. This umbrella of online communications encompasses community management, page creation and development, monitoring and reporting, friend and follower development as well as content development. And Rebecca will be an important part of delivering those services to IWS clients.

Because not everyone is perfectly comfortable with social media, we will be offering some social media seminars in the coming months. Watch our Facebook page for details.

Welcome aboard, Rebecca.

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Brian Michael

03/23/2011

Eyetools
09:49 pm by Brian Michael

Have you ever wondered why certain things are placed where they are on a web site? Usually it’s for a good reason.

Check out these articles from Eyetools – the inventors of eyetracking heatmaps, experts in eyetracking analysis – for some of the reasons why.

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Max Fose

03/22/2011

Where is Social Media Heading?
08:22 am by Max Fose

There has been a bit of angst in the consulting world of late about the Next Big Thing. What is it? How will it be different?

SXSW came up with group tweeting.

I hate to say it, but we think it’s going to be all about integration.

Take a look at Facebook. Have you noticed how much it resembles the old AOL – your one stop shop on the Internet? And, in fact, have you seen how much Facebook looks like a microcosm of the old World Wide Web? (A mini-We, as Austin Powers might say.)

It’s all getting smooshed together.

What does that mean?

Two things, I think.

1. People (our “target audiences”) will find their way to platforms and software apps that suit their needs.

2. We will monitor, track behavior and chase them every way we can.

In short, we in the consulting business have job security, as long as we can explain what it is we do and why we do it so well.

1 Comment

Paul McKay

03/16/2011

Mobile App Users Also Use Browser
07:50 am by Paul McKay

It’s becoming a cliche: More and more people — especially the young — are not just using, but relying on, mobile devices to connect with the online world.

comScore’s latest Mobile Year in Review report not only confirms that but gets into the detail of what we are using our mobile devices to do.

Talking isn’t one of them. The number of people using mobile devices just for voice dropped 16%; that group represents less than three out of every 10 people (27.6%).

Our big takeaway involves apps: People who use apps — more than one-third — also use a browser and vice versa.

This has real implications for our clients, some of whom can’t afford a custom app for every platform out there. It means that building a Web app that can be used on a mobile device will have a broader reach at a smaller price.

We’re excited for our clients and everyone who uses mobile.

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Max Fose

03/15/2011

IWS Pollies Up – A Symbol of the ‘Best of the Best’
10:27 am by Max Fose

All of us at IWS were gratified to learn this week that the American Association of Political Consultants recognized our work in 2010 with a total of eight Pollie Awards:

-  Overall Campaigns – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Direct Mail – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Best Use of Negative Contrast:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website State:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Website State:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website Local:  Keep the Cubs – Yes on 420
-  Television Ballot Initiative – GOTV:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety

Being recognized for our work in TV, Direct Mail and Online is a testament to the integrated strategic approach we bring to our clients’ projects. It also reflects the many channels the world now uses to consume content.

We are pleased to give a big shout out to the steering committees of the campaigns and our strategic partners who deserve these awards as much as we do:  HighGround, Inc., Coleman Dahm and Associates, David Leibowitz, and Jay Heiler.

The Pollie Award is “a symbol of the ’Best of the Best’ in political and public affairs communication.”

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David Haase

03/15/2011

All Audiences Turning to the Web
08:28 am by David Haase

Pew is out with its annual State of the News Media report for 2011.

If you are in digital, you are growing. If you’re not, you’re not.

“News organizations — old and new — still produce most of the content audiences consume. But …”

You could drive a Zamboni through that exception.

“In 2010, every news platform saw audiences either stall or decline — except for the Web.”

The implications from this continuing trend are enormous, but …

“In a media world where consumers decide what news they want to get and how they want to get it, the future will belong to those who understand the public’s changing behavior and can target content and advertising to snugly fit the interests of each user.”

Let me repeat that last part: “…each user.”

Two fun stats from the report:

  • 47% of Americans get some local news — primarily weather, traffic and information about restaurants and local businesses — from a mobile device.
  • In January 2011, 7% of Americans reported owning a tablet, double the number just four months earlier.

This is Pew’s usual outstanding job of understanding and reporting on the topics it cares about. Worth the read.

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Max Fose

03/11/2011

Japan Quake Brings Out the Best in Technology
12:30 pm by Max Fose

When something like the earthquake/tsunami in Japan happens, survivors instinctively want to know one thing: Are my family and friends OK?

So hat’s off to Google, which this morning created a People Finder for Japan within hours of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake there.

The People Finder app allows users to report people who are missing and also identify people who are not missing (or who get found).

Here’s the original:

Google People Finder for Japan earthquake victims

And for those of you who only speak sushi Japanese, it looks like this:

This is, quite simply, technology being used for good.

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Max Fose

03/10/2011

Not Our Older Brother’s World Wide Web
07:05 am by Max Fose

Does anyone out there remember “dial-up”?

I didn’t think so.

We’ve brought in a number of new clients in the last week or so, and I was thinking about how much has changed since IWS’ first client 11 years ago.

We still get plenty of requests for Web sites (especially the more complex variety) and email campaigns. But lately it’s been about apps and putting content on mobile devices.

Hmm. As I recall, my “mobile” device when we started IWS was a first generation Blackberry. You could make calls and receive emails, but not much. And it was all in black and white.

Kleiner Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capitalists, had a stat that blew me away: In the 4thquarter of last year, shipments of smartphones and tablets exceeded shipments of PCs and notebooks.

So we’ll be doing a lot more mobile sites like this one for Bon-Ton Stores. (I took the screen grab from my iPad so it’s got a lot of white space around it. You get the idea.)

Bon-Ton Stores mobile site

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Brian Michael

03/07/2011

Reed Awards arrived today
02:47 pm by Brian Michael

Reed Awards

Since the DC office moved a few blocks closer to the river in Old Town, there was a bit of a delay in receiving our 2010 Reed Awards from Campaign and Elections magazine. Thankfully, the statuettes arrived safely and are on display in the reception area.

IWS won First Place for Best Web site for a Statewide Race and Best GOTV Plan and Execution.

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Max Fose

03/02/2011

Make it Fit the Audience
02:50 pm by Max Fose

A very cool looking Web site that an IWS team member pointed out to me today set me to thinking about what we do for clients.

The site is called OneMinuteNews, and it’s a new news site for Gen-Xers. It’s got a clean design with clearly labeled content buckets – trending news, technology, entertainment, etc. Content appears in text and video. Social media features are being added.

The news is aimed at a young market and has a youthful feel and spin to it. Who knows whether it will make it? Disclaimer: It’s not a client, and IWS has no connection with it. We just believe in highlighting good work whether it’s ours or not.

OneMinuteNews is a good example of what online communication should be. It knows its audience. It gives the audience content that it would find useful and in a language and format that the audience gets.

That’s what we try to do, too. End of story.

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