As the power and proliferation of mobile devices increases, mobile applications are increasingly an effective and easy way for companies to extend their services or products to existing customers — and obtain new ones.

iPhone apps are often the first thing people think of when talking about mobile applications, but there are numerous other options. And, as the power of these other options increase, it becomes just as a good idea to make apps for other devices as it is to make an application for the iPhone.

Let’s say you have a website that provides a service. Instead of producing an iPhone app, it might be better to develop a mobile web app, an application that runs in a mobile browser. A mobile web app would reach almost every mobile device because almost all mobile devices have a browser to access the internet. And with most mobile browsers being just as powerful — if not more powerful than desktop browsers — it’s very easy to make a version of your web app into a mobile app.

Technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and SQLite simplify the process. Yes, many mobile browsers have database support built in, so you can store and retrieve data using JavaScript. Frameworks such as jQuery make it very easy to create powerful, more streamlined mobile apps.

Android mobile devices are increasing in popularity because virtually every cell phone carrier offers an Android-powered smartphone. Tools such as Appcelerator make it easy to create Android apps in no time. Plus, the Android Market has no wait time to have your app ready for users to download.

Up to this point, I’ve only mentioned smartphones. They’re only part of the mobile device equation. The next time you’re thinking about a mobile app, consider some devices such as:

• PSP
• Amazon Kindle (yes, you can now create apps for the Kindle)
• iPad
• iPod Touch
• Zune HD
• Tablet PCs

 

Senior Prom, everyone remembers how important it was during high school. Wherever you grew up, everyone wants to have a prom to remember. The age-old questions of "Who are you taking?", "Which band is going to play?", and "How are you going to get there?" live in the minds of every high school senior when they think about prom. Dell, Microsoft and our agency teamed up to create a contest that gave one lucky high school a prom to remember.

The Contest
The Dell SuperProm Contest allowed one high school senior to win a tricked-out prom for their high school. For six weeks, high school seniors submitted 30-second videos about why their school deserved a SuperProm. Dell Lounge users voted on the videos, and when the votes were tallied a winner was chosen.

How Successful Was the Contest?
The Dell SuperProm contest was primarily conducted on a microsite, but also used Facebook & Twitter to announce updates about the contest as it was underway.

1. Engagement and Creativity. Contest entrants submitted their 30-second videos to the microsite, and the only requirement was to showcase why your school deserves a SuperProm. Allowing users to submit and vote on their own videos was an opportunity for them to showcase their creativity.

2. Incorporation of Social Media. The microsite was the main hub for the contest, which hosted the videos and votes, but the contest also posted updates on Facebook and Twitter. Alerting Facebook and Twitter users extended the reach of the contest into social networking, thus encouraging microsite visitors who may not have heard about the contest otherwise.

3. What About the Numbers? The six-week contest amassed some pretty eye-opening numbers, which proved the engagement and excitement the contest brought.

• Visitors to the site: 216,205
• Total pageviews: 1,600,811
• Facebook likes grew by 17%
• Twitter followers grew by 4%

4. School Spirit. The contest was centered on high school students talking about where they are from and why their school deserves a dream prom. The topic of prom excites every high school student, and the possibility of becoming the “coolest kid in school” is a great reason to submit a video.

5. A Contest for Students, Run by Students. High school students submitted their videos on the microsite and also voted on the videos they thought were most deserving. The idea of allowing the users to decide on the winner required engagement and commitment.

The End Result
Every student wants a prom to remember and incorporating multiple platforms for a contest increases access across many different channels. The winning school, Cupertino High School, won a prom that included musical guests Common and Lil Jon. Their winning video centered on a project named Kenya Dream. In 2007, while freshmen, the senior class at Cupertino High School adopted a school in Kenya and had a goal of raising $100,000 to better the lives of the students.

The Dell SuperProm contest was a win-win situation, as it spread the news of Kenya Dream & won a dream prom for the students. The Dell SuperProm touched the hearts of many students and was truly a contest to remember.

It’s no secret that social networks are the center of consumers’ online worlds. They’re where consumers spend the majority of their online time. Many believe that the social networks are here to stay, and companies need to learn how to make the best of this.

If you are a company today, people are out there talking about your brand. If you don’t listen to them, you’re not only ignoring valuable feedback, you’re damaging potentially positive relationships.

To see why it’s extremely important to listen, look at what happens when a company blatantly does the opposite. Intel, for example, freaked out when protestors of conflict minerals flooded their Facebook wall with comments. Instead of interacting, they ended up reacting, and deleted all of the comments. It ended up being a huge social media mistake that did two terrible things at the same time — it made them look like the bad guys, and it gave the issue even more publicity than it had before.

To start listening to what’s being said about you online, there are some great, free sites that exist to help you search the social web:

• Setting up Google Alerts is an easy way to be notified every day of anything that comes up on the search engine about your brand.
• Addictomatic is a great way to get a quick high-level overview of what’s going on.

Once you see what areas are getting the most activity, you can delve deeper with these next four:

• For searching through blogs, try either BlogPulse or IceRocket 
• For searching discussion forums, check out Boardtracker
• To scour the comments of all of the web’s blogs, check out CoComment 

Even more important than listening to your customers is doing something with what you hear. Use all of this unsolicited praise and/or criticism to improve everything — whether it be the company’s product or future communications. And always speak back in real-time — vocal consumers are speaking out for a reason, and, more than anything, they want to know that they’re being heard.

After a project our company makes it a practice to sit down together, go over our successes and short-comings, and develop a plan of action to avoid reoccurring issues in future projects, as well as spread the word to the rest of the agency about what works best. This meeting is called a postmortem. Not all projects are the same, and not all postmortems should be handled the same. In this 2-part article, I explain when and why a postmortem is important, explore best practices in our agency, and how you develop action to learn from your experience.

When should a postmortem be done?
A postmortem needs to happen after and as close to the final sign-off as possible. People will move on to other projects, and it’s good to get them in the meeting while the project is still fresh in their minds. Sometimes projects span over several months and issues in the beginning are easily forgotten. It is good practice to take notes throughout a project when problems (or successes) arise. This will be valuable when it comes time to meet in the postmortem.

A postmortem should always happen, whether the project was a complete success, a small project or small team. A postmortem doesn’t just have to happen at the end. You can have a mid-project check-in where the team can share any concerns or issues, and thus enable you to improve on the process before the project is complete.

Why should it be done?
Even successful projects have areas we can learn from. Not all points brought up need to be negative items. If a new way of accomplishing a task was really successful, it should be noted as well for helping those in the agency who are unaware or follow alternative methods.

Often times, we learn most from the pain points throughout a project. If every project keeps detailed notes on these issues from the postmortem and the management team is able to review these notes and compare to other projects, we can identify reoccurring problems within the agency and find ways to address them.

Who should be invited?
Every team member involved in the project should attend the postmortem. This is very important. Sometimes scheduling a postmortem can be tough because people move on to other projects. If you have to, make it during lunch and see if you can get lunch delivered. Come up with something to encourage participation. For example, ask everyone to bring a list of two items they thought were done well and two items they felt could be improved on.

OK, so great — we know when to have this discussion, why we’re having it, and who is invited. What is the best strategy for reviewing a project when you have so many people involved and multiple phases of the work?

In Part II, we will go over important items to cover in a postmortem, some questions to ask yourself and team members regarding a completed project, and find out what we can take away from the meeting to be successful in the future.

 

Last night, after much speculation and grandstanding, LeBron James announced which NBA team he’d join via free agency. Congrats, Miami. At last, closure. Finally, the news, blogs and spam emails I enjoy every day can return to normal.

Mr. James’ decision — or the LeBronocalypse, as some have called it — goes beyond the public’s obsession with celebrity, entertainment and trending topics.

Love it or hate it, King James demonstrated how one brand (no doubt an international brand with global popularity and unprecedented access to the press) can overwhelmingly set the agenda for content and conversations, across all media.

The aftermath of “The Decision” speaks to the fragile nature of how the public perceives a brand. Overnight, James went from being a top attraction in the NBA — and one of the good guys — to a self-absorbed narcissist in the eyes of many and even a traitor (especially in Cleveland).

Brands and agencies should take note: One action, one press conference, one message can impact the goodwill, the momentum, the standing that your brand has worked hard to achieve. Sure, time — and PR efforts — heal wounds. But make no mistake: last night’s broadcast was a case study in what brands shouldn’t do.

And we are all witnesses.