Graphic Design Woes: I Give - You Win

I'm not even sure that there's much of a narrative that I can write for this. The pictures will explain it all.

After a LONG string of emails and numerous changes (and with making this ten times busier than i'd prefer)...

they decided to do their own and scrap my design. i'd be offended but it means that i am no longer involved. thank you sweet baby jesus.

i love them, i do. design is hard. i know. so to that i will just say... go read this article. and be kind to your graphic designers. www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/clients-are-morons

Mondays. Such A Case Of The Mondays... Creating An App Without Breaking Your Budget

I had so many ideas this weekend of things I needed to blog about and share. Alas, I sit here with nothing coming to mind...

So two cups of coffee later I did finally remember one thing. I'm all about things that come cheap and easy. I'm also terribly afraid of commitment so monthly commitments are much easier for me to make. I work for a municipality and we really wanted an app. Want to know how much they put in the budget for us to get one???? Nope. Guess higher. Still not there. DING DING DING! $50,000!!!! Do you know what I could do with $50,000??? It actually didn't pass. So I started digging and found this.

This website will let you do a test run and not only gives you a really easy interface to create the app, but it's a monthly charge (which varies depending - I would be happy with the $39 a month plan) and they will not only submit it for you to apple but also across all platforms. So you get an app that will be available for anyone in your audience, for $39 a month! Not a bad deal.

http://mobile.conduit.com/

the only work i did to get as far as this screenshot was put in our website. not everyone gets that lucky but making it look like this takes about 10 minutes even if you don't have that kind of luck.

 

whenever i messed with it about this time last year i took ten minutes and got it to look more like this, with a handful of other features that you can access! our branding has since changed so they look considerably different!

just an easy approach at getting a mobile app out there if you want it. it is free for your users to download from what we were told. i haven't tested it as far as to know whether or not there are ads within the app but i'm still looking. they also give you easy ways to promote (including the code to put QR codes and more on your website, facebook, etc) your app and you have full access to the analytics so you can see if your $39 a month is worth it. i would imagine tying this to a visitor site would be amazing. as soon as ours goes live i will be testing it and begging and pleading with the powers that be!

The Facebook Page Do's & Don'ts

This morning I read a really great blog that somewhat reiterated what we already know and do here. I'll link it first as it is probably much easier to read than anything I can write: http://www.houstonmarketingmatters.com/blog/bid/231510/Facebook-Tip-Businesses-Must-Talk-With-Consumers-Not-At-Them but the jist of it - social media is about being social. It's not rocket science.

Being social has never meant and will never mean being a dictator or the only person in the room talking. That's being an ass. If you go into social media thinking it's all about your business, your city, your product, you'll never flourish. If you go in being social - interacting with everyone in the room, having genuine concern for people and their thoughts and needs, handing someone the stiff drink they so desperately need after listening to them dump a weeks worth of frustrations on you, etc - you are destined for social media success. People want to talk, they want to be heard, and they want you to hear them. When is the last time that you enjoyed a dinner party that was 100% someone presenting something and you weren't allowed to ask questions or speak to anyone around you? Exactly. So don't do that online to your fan base if you want to see it grow.

All that being said, that is a SCARY thing for some people. You can't control what's being said. You can to some extent by moderating but even that is a slippery slope. We set up a "rules of the road" that essentially ban people from cursing, slander, or speaking off topic. We ONLY delete comments if they go against those rules. If you take down or remove every negative response or post you'll do WAY more harm than good. Honesty is key and in a not so honest world, and with social media being an option and not a requirement, you'll loose them faster than you're gaining them by painting your own picture. So moderate within reason. There's another way to deal with the negative nancy's, and in my town there are MANY.

Our solution - treat it as a challenge. Make them your champion. Take your biggest critic and turn them into your biggest fan. No, it's not easy. We once had a lady that was blasting every post we made with her opinions on our trash service and how they weren't "really" recycling what they picked up in the red bins but instead just dumping it in the landfill. So - we invited her to follow a truck without telling us when and where and report to us where they went on facebook. We had nothing to hide. She did and followed them straight to the recycling center. And then posted about it. But she still wasn't 100% convinced and had lots of disparaging things to say in our phone conversations. Our next effort was to arrange a tour of the recycling center with the owner of the trash company, her, and our manager that was over the trash contract. I went along to film our feat and got her warmed up and then hit her with being in a video talking about how great the recycling center was, the tour, and essentially the trash company she had spent weeks bashing. I took our biggest critic on facebook and turned her into our spokesperson.

She still comes to City events and I still love her just as much as I did the day I could see her passion for all things green! It may take work and effort, but your biggest critics are usually verbal people. Verbal people know how to make a LOT of noise. Why not take the time and turn it into cheering?