Social Media Tracking Application for the Old Spice Campaign

We love our jobs. As part of our daily course of business, we get the opportunity to work with some wonderful clients, provide solutions to solve some of their tough problems, and generally make things better for them. Some of the work is not very glamorous, but we are here to get the essential important stuff done for our customers – not grab headlines. Last week, we got the chance to work on something that was challenging, fun, and a little crazy in its reach. We built an application (overnight) to display data about the current Old Spice online campaign, and got a huge response. It does not get much more fun and exciting than that.

If you are not familiar with the re-vamped Old Spice brand and their innovative use of social media channels, let me give a brief synopsis. Last year, Old Spice hired the “Old Spice Guy” to promote their new products. Their agency (Weiden + Kennedy) created a series of fanciful commercials with the Old Spice Guy.  The campaign moved online with a series of YouTube videos,  posted as responses to users asking questions (both famous and not famous) on social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For a more in-depth description, head over to Mashable or Digital Buzz.

This year Old Spice‘s online campaign involved a YouTube based battle of words between Fabio (yep, that Fabio) and the Old Spice Guy. Fabio was attempting to usurp the title of New Old Spice Guy, and Old Spice Guy rose to defend it. You can still watch the story unfold on their YouTube channel.

After watching the first day of the campaign, we decided to build an application that tabulated mentions of Fabio and Old Spice Guy (and related terms) across five social media channels (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, and Digg.) We displayed which character had more mentions (as well as made a worm graph of the trending in real time) ostensibly to figure out who was “winning.” You can view it here.

We blatantly stole some of the design elements off of Old Spice’s YouTube channel (they didn’t mind, apparently) to make our site identify with the campaign, then Pat went to work furiously coding the entire database application working well into the night. (He can do that, he lives in the Land of the Midnight Sun.)

The next day we crossed out fingers, and Tweeted out the application’s URL to Old Spice. Old Spice must have liked it, because they tweeted it out to their followers and posted it on Facebook.

We got 25,000+ unique visitors in one day. As a thank you the Old Spice Guy even made us a video. How awesome is that?

Despite their response making us a little giddy–

(I mean, this campaign made some big waves in our industry last year, and here they are, Tweeting and posting to YouTube about us!)

– we got a lot more out of this than a video. We demonstrated working with large amounts of data coming from different sources, creating data-crunching applications quickly and with creativity, handling irregular and enormous traffic surges, and enhancing an existing social media campaigns.

And, we had a great time. Thank you Old Spice, for a great opportunity.

Which Social Media Management Tool Should I Use??

There are several social media platform management systems out there – Hootsuite, TweetDeck, TweetMe, Ping.fm, among others. The basic idea is the same for all of these systems – make it easy for users to be active on social media, without taking all the time to login and logout of each individual platform as well as reduce redundancy of creating posts by allowing the user to choose which platforms they want to post to all at the same time.

There are minute differences in each system, and often it comes down to whichever system layout you prefer, or the customizable options it offers. In my opinion, the most user-friendly option is Seesmic. The reason I like Seesmic is that the help desk is super easy and available, it allows you to add fanpages from Facebook (where many others only allow you to post to your personal Facebook account), and you can set up how often you want it to refresh your streams of information separately, rather than all at once – this is useful for twitter as its feed goes much faster than Facebook or LinkedIn.

All of the platforms are free – and most, including Seesmic, have a free iPhone app that you can download. Again, Seesmic is very customizable even as an app, which is very helpful so that you are not using your iPhone space for things you don’t need or use.

It is important to note that all of these systems (just as the platforms they post to) have glitches and sometimes stall out. This is, unfortunately, still a part of internet social media platforms; however, I have not seen many problems with Seesmic, and the few I have seen have been very superficial, as opposed to shutting down the ability to post or claiming to have posted to your accounts without actually doing so.

Overall, for this kind of system, I believe Seesmic provides the functionality and customization mix that is needed to be successful in managing the social media platforms currently used, as well as the option for future growth or use of other platforms.

Reno-Tahoe WordCamp 2011

WordCamp was packed with informative and entertaining presentations, humor, and a community call to action this year!  Not to mention the many local and travelling WordCamp-ers who were eager to share stories and ideas and meet up with other interested parties.

Several of the TAI team were in attendance, but for Rachel and I it was a first time experience.  We decided to get the most from the experience and split up to cover as many of the presentations as we could.  Some of them proved to be WAY over our heads, though. By the time the lightning rounds were done, we were mentally exhausted.

Who knew there was so much to learn about one platform? Of course, WordPress is capable of more than many other platforms out there, I was still surprised by all the topics!  Some of them included: child themes, common mistakes, community involvement, using WP to create a newspaper site, security on WP, typography, integration, and our personal favorite – Drupal vs. WordPress – the illustrated version! (Kevin Jones had the best presentation of the day!)

All in all, we both enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to attending again next year!  I am even thinking maybe I can help out with some of the arrangements – that way we could have heat on in the presentation halls and coffee in the morning… (it wasn’t pretty with these things missing – people REALLY love their coffee).

Thank you to all who helped to make this event possible – it couldn’t have happened without you!  We are proud to have contributed ourselves and it was well worth the time.  See you next year!

Welcome Our Newest TAI Team Member!

We are delighted and proud to report that we have added another member to the small, but mighty, Trinity Applied Internet team. Web Project and Content Management Assistant Nicole Ott will now be benefiting our clients by helping with daily project management and content marketing. During the search, we saw many well-qualified candidates, but Nicole’s passion and experience with managing projects and timelines, as well as her communication and writing skills, is the perfect combination for us.

Nicole brings eight years of experience managing projects, deadlines and documentation to the Trinity Applied Internet team. She acquired a passion for the business applications of online media, including website design and social media channels while in college. Prior to joining TAI, Nicole’s attention to detail was critical in her job at the regional Starbucks Coffee Roasting Plant, in the Quality department. She holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Nicole has jumped right in and is happily working away on several projects, and has (thankfully) taken over most of our appointment scheduling. Feel free to contact her with questions or requests as you see fit.

Welcome to the team, Nicole!!

Get the Most out of your Web Developer

When you are trying to get every ounce out of your marketing dollar and decrease your costs – knowing how to work more effectively with your web developer can help you decrease cost and improve your product.

1. Bundle your Requests.

When you ask for changes to your website, gather all your changes and send them over — all at once.  Sending bundled requests will save you time (1 email instead of 5 emails), decrease the likelihood of a request getting lost, and speed up the time it takes to make changes. In order to bundle requests you usually have to gather them over a couple weeks – this gives you time to think about them, and decide if they are essential and truly in line with your website goals.

2. Prioritize your Requests.

Everything can’t be done at once – no matter how fast the developer.  If you are on a budget, prioritizing your requests will also help you decide what changes are essential to your business.

3. Insist on a System to Track Requests.

If your web developer does not have a system to track requests (spreadsheet, project management software, or bug tracking software) or a consistent process for making changes – things will get lost,  items will be done incorrectly, and communication wil get fuzzy. Bad communication increases costs.

4. Take the Time to Test.

Test what your developer is changing for you – or better yet have someone who isn’t making the request test it.

I am always amazed at the clients who approve the changes but never really go try them out. Even the best developers miss something every once an a while. Having to go back and fix something weeks or months later will cost you valuable time and sometimes money.

5. Take a Screenshot.

I recommend Evernote for screen captures (Evernote will even let your draw on the screenshot). Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words (or dollars). Why would you make a request, and then pay your developer to figure out exactly what you were taking about – or hunt for exactly where that detail is on your website?

Creating thoughtful and specific communications, and having a clear procedure for rquesting, testing and approving changes, will help you get things done faster. You will get you exactly what you want, and improve your bottom line. And your vendor must be eager and able to reciprocate with efficient communications! If they aren’t, well… maybe it’s time for a new vendor.

Projects and Launches, Launches and Projects

We’re busy as bees here at Trinity Applied Internet.  It’s all we can do to login and give you an update now and then. Here’s the short version:

Recent Launches

www.tmcworkingsolutions.org — A hardworking, non-profit microlender in the Bay Area, TMC Working Solutions needed a more professional look and a much more robust content management system.  Content Gadget and a simple CSS template did the trick.

www.kps3.com — Our long time agency partners, KPS|3 Marketing, have completely revamped their website, incorporating some whimsical Flash (created by 9MM Media), tons of great content, multimedia elements, and our very own Content Gadget.  Their blog is really outstanding, too.

Coming Soon

Trinity Applied Internet — It isn’t just a rumor, we have a new site on the way.  Our problem is, we keep focusing on our clients’ work while our own is relegated to the back burner.   We suppose that’s certainly not a problem from our clients’ perspective (in fact we call that “by design”) — so we don’t apologize.

Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media — On the heels of the UNR Reynolds School of Journalism, its sister organization will be unveiling their new site this month. We loved the name of their last conference, by the way: “FYI, LOL or OMG? – Technology’s Impact on the Courts and Media”

Server Technology — This locally based company is a global leader in manufacturing power distribution management equipment, and their home page redesign is going to reflect their success, stature and service.

Exciting New Starts

We are proud to announce that Trinity Applied Internet has been contracted by Gnomon, Inc. to fulfill the graphic design and custom Joomla/Google Maps components for a new State Historic Preservation Office site.  Watch this space for more information on a really fun project that promotes historical tourism here in our Silver State.

Estipona Group has selected Trinity Applied Internet to build the new Arts 4 Nevada website, incorporating their vibrant and expansive new design with Content Gadget and custom calendar management, e-mail push, and other database-driven applications.

Buzz you later –

Keith and Erin

Announcing the Redesigned Reynolds School of Journalism Website

Today marks the public launch of the Reynolds School of Journalism’s newly redesigned website.  Trinity Applied Internet has been working with RSJ over the course of almost a year — to define goals and requirements, to imagine and design online applications to make department operations easier, and to incorporate multimedia and cutting-edge publishing technology to feature student and faculty work.  Suffice to say, we are proud of this work.

The graphic design was provided by the Estipona Group, and numerous members of the faculty provided strategy, review, and feedback along the way.  This project also owes a special thank-you to Professor Donica Mensing, who managed the complete refresh of all their content and populated data into all the new applications.

The website features our Content Gadget content management system, and five substantial custom database applications that manage everything from News and Events, to Faculty Pages, Scholarship Applications and the semester Course Schedule.  Prospective Students, Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Alumni and Parents each have sections of content organized and tailored directly to them.  Perhaps most importantly, the School has ample area on the site to publish student work.  The development was crafted to allow for fluid expansion and to be completely supported by staff members.

Projects like these don’t happen without a great committee. Trinity Applied Internet would like to express our sincere appreciation to everyone at the Reynolds School, including Dean Jerry Ceppos, Director of Alumni Relations Kristin Ghiggeri-Burgarello, and Professors Rosemary McCarthy, Bob Felten, Larry Dailey, Donica Mensing and Howard Goldbaum.   The committee was a pleasure to work with, and we wish them the best as they roll into 2009 with a new online presence.

Nevada Humanities Adopts Content Gadget to Manage Their Website

Trinity Applied Internet recently had the honor of working with an organization that qualifies as a state treasure.  Nevada Humanities is the non-profit organization that has been bringing Chautauqua to the Truckee Meadows, and now southern Nevada as well, for more than 15 years. With seven core  programs and a substantial annual grant-making commitment, Nevada Humanities has been a part of hundreds of state events and initiatives in the humanities, arts, culture and history disciplines.  In fact, they are also the sponsoring organization and editorial body for the Online Nevada Encyclopedia, which features some of the most interesting Nevada lore and images on the web today. (Check out the “Vegas Then and Now” interactive feature.  We hear there may be some Reno/Sparks images up there soon!)

The organization makes very good use of a small number of staff, so manually updating their comprehensive website content in HTML was at best time-prohibitive, and at worst, a real pain.  Board member Edward Estipona had already provided them with a solid visual design, but keeping up with the large volume of information, applications, forms and documents, events, and new video and other media, was becoming very difficult.  Trinity Applied Internet took the existing site design and wrapped it around our Content Gadget content management system, installing tools that would allow their staff to manage documents, publish events, and even load photography into their jQuery banner, all from a secure online administrative interface.

We hope Nevada Humanities is as happy with their new website engine as we were to be working with such an esteemed organization.  Thank you, Nevada Humanities!

Announcing PDUsdirect.com

Trinity Applied Internet is proud to announce today’s launch of PDUsdirect.com.  The website is an e-commerce solution for Server Technology, a global supplier of power distribution and management equipment for data centers, headquartered in Reno.  PDU’s Direct is the first TAI-developed website to utilize a new, customized Ruby on Rails content management system, and features a robust database solution that manages a bounty of technical product information with simplicity and ease.  The site also sports online chat support, merchant gateway, shipping calculations, a custom Ruby shopping cart, and quite a few other internal bells and whistles.

TAI is excited to have been given the opportunity to develop this project for Server Technology, a company which also has been honored this week with the first Northern Nevada Technology Company of the Year Award given by NCET.   Congratulations, Server Technology, and cheers — here’s to a great response and a healthy return on investment from PDUsdirect.com!

Content Gadget 2.5 Arrives

Trinity Applied Internet has been working hard on a little gem we call Content Gadget.  (That’s the database driven application that allows a client to maintain their website content, images, user data, meta-information and keywords from their own web interface.)  While most of our clients require quite a bit of customization, we have been working on developing a standard platform that will be a solid solution for many websites.  Well, ta da! We are one giant leap closer to that with what we are calling version 2.5. (And really not that far away from 3.0 — which to us, is really exciting.)

After hearing feedback from users of content management systems as diverse as Content Gadget, Joomla!, and DotNetNuke, Keith had a ton of ideas brewing around how to make the system as easy as possible to use.   His primary concern was building all the different components (modules, tools) to be utilized intuitively.  All the elements use the same vocabulary of drop down menus and fillable fields in order to make the users’ experience consistent throughout the system.

This is especially important for those clients who also have heavy-duty applications that have been custom-built for their site.  A client could have a lot to deal with, between managing the content, culling and responding to lead gen data, and maintaining special business applications such as password protected white-papers and financial reporting.  We feel you should not have to be a qualified DBA or other IT professional to maintain and utilize your website, so we’re making it as simple and elegant as possible to learn the system.  Clients without all the custom applications should find the changes make their administration even easier.

If you have questions, ideas or comments about your CMS, give us a call.