Textopoly Mobile Blog » mobile site

PRESS: Santa Ana College + Mobile

Naushad — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:56:46 +0000

Santa Ana College Launches New Mobile Website

(Santa Ana)—Santa Ana College (SAC) has launched a new mobile website that offers easy access from any smartphone. When a student or prospective student accesses www.sac.edu from his or her smartphone, the site automatically redirects the browser to the new mobile site.

“We are excited to embrace this new technology,” said Norm Fujimoto, vice president of academic affairs at Santa Ana College. “Our students and would be students are constantly accessing information through their mobile devices and we want to satisfy their needs for quick and simply navigated information about the college.”

The SAC mobile site was developed through a partnership with Santa Ana College, Textopoly, Inc., and its higher education innovation group—Republic of Digital. The mobile site evolved through the collaborative efforts of the Republic of Digital team, student intern Andrew O’Melia and the SAC Web Committee.

Since 2007, O’Melia has been enrolled part-time in the college’s digital media program. With 12 years experience as a graphic designer, he is working on his associate degree with plans to transfer to a four-year university.

During his three-month internship, O’Melia helped design the mobile site’s user interface elements and the graphics for the header bar. Textopoly and Republic of Digital’s, internship program helped incorporate a real-world project into an invaluable experience for O’Melia. He was front and center when the final designs were presented by the Republic of Digital team to the clients—members of the SAC Web Committee.

“Since working on the SAC mobile site, I’ve really fallen in love with the process of designing and developing interactive media,” said O’Melia. “It’s not something I could have learned in the classroom and I’m now working as creative director with two application development companies.”

The mobile site features quick access to many of the most popular links on www.sac.edu,

including a campus map Google API, phone directory, class schedules, Webadvisor, library information, safety and security guidelines, continuing education information, counseling scheduling, help and frequently asked questions, plus ‘click to call’ phone numbers and links to the college’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

“It’s vital to think about a mobile site as not a simple shrunken version of the desktop site, but instead to wrap strategy and genuine insight around the build of the mobile site from the perspective of the user,” said Naushad Huda, CEO of Textopoly.

The site is compatible with mobile browsers found on a range of devices, including Android, iPhone, iPod, iPad, and BlackBerry. Since the mobile site has gone live, Android devices and iPhones top the list of devices accessing the new site.

According to Morgan Stanley, the volume of mobile users will outstrip the number of desktop Internet users by 2014. According to a report by Gomez, 52 percent of consumers are unlikely to return to a website they had trouble accessing by phone. What is even worse—40 percent said they would likely visit a competitor’s website instead.

About the Rancho Santiago Community College District

The mission of the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) is to respond to the educational needs of an ever-changing community and to provide programs and services that reflect academic excellence. Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College are public community colleges of RSCCD, which serve the residents of Anaheim Hills, East Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and Villa Park. Both colleges provide education for academic transfer and careers, courses for personal and professional development, customized training for business and industry, and programs to train nurses, firefighters and law enforcement personnel.

About Republic of Digital & Textopoly, Inc.

Textopoly is a multi-award winning mobile marketing and advertising agency that concepts and executes customized campaigns for brands and agencies. Whether it is through SMS, the mobile Internet, Mobile Media or Apps, they bring the brand straight to the users. Textopoly has worked with brands including Yamaha, Google/Admob, Microsoft Advertising, Paramount Studios, Bluefly, Rutgers University, Kikkoman, NBC, Sports Club of LA and many more.

Republic of Digital is a higher education focused innovation group within Textopoly whose focus is to partner with educational institutions and bring next generation mobile strategies & solutions to better interact and communicate with their constituents. Visit ROD at www.republicofdigital.com.

Santa Ana College Mobile Site

It’s Required: Nonprofit Organizations & Mobile Marketing

Karla — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:59:01 +0000

I enjoy two things, mobile and nonprofit organizations. Although the first cell phone was exhibited in 1973 and demonstrated to have what we now refer to as smartphone features in 1992, brands were not utilizing SMS campaigns until a few years ago. The Human Rights Campaign, I believe, was amongst the first non-profit organizations to lead the way with mobile marketing and advertising. Not only were they the first SMS campaign I ever signed up for (I was in high school) but also the earliest SMS campaign I have seen apply interactive voice response (IVR).

Non-profit organizations must use innovative forms of advertising because they cannot exploit the usual tools of ‘cool’ advertisement – sexual appeal and alcohol – to promote campaigns for rain forest preservation, or civil rights, or human trafficking. They must use the art of human emotion and ethical perspectives with a hodgepodge of events like auctions, selling tickets for art exhibits, restaurant profit turnovers, etc. The bottom line is that a nonprofit organization needs to either get the supporter in front of the website to donate or at an event where a supporter can donate. It does not need to be this complex anymore.

Within the last few weeks I have seen more and more articles pop up about how nonprofit organizations should implement mobile apps, mobile sites, and mobiles ads. I must admit, now that I look back, I find it shocking that it took this long for brands to see how applicable and efficient mobile marketing can be. After all, 85% of people read an unread text message within 15 minutes of receiving one. Compare that to 15% of readers who actually open an unread email (and that’s actually considered a good rate for email marketing!).

Nonprofit organizations, this is your wake up call. Your target audiences all have a cell phone! They are more then willing to support you; after all, you do have their contact information and monetary donations. Now give them something back that they can carry around with them, aside from their big hearts and pocket. Give them the luxury of convenience and accessibility, the art of modern technology with the oldest of traditions – helping others.

Whether you want a mobile ad, a mobile app, a mobile site, or even an SMS alert system, stop limiting your fans. Engage your devotees’ day or night and build a modern mobile relationship both parties can benefit from. And if you are worried less people will donate, just let the numbers do the talking. Last year, over $50 million dollars were given via mobile donations. And this is $50 million through a channel that has yet to utilized to its full potential. Can you imagine if all nonprofit organizations allowed supporters to make a mobile donation and to access company information whenever they pleased? The predictions are insurmountable. Isn’t that impressive?

Demographic wise – you are probably catering to a more mature and affluent demographic. Today’s generation, both young and old, is one of mobile addiction. Extend your reach to all age groups with the use of mobile marketing and advertising, and watch your support list go through the roof. Do your country a courtesy, and provide a healthy alternative to sexting and Facebooking, inspire our youth to assemble and become an active participant in the global community – to make a difference right through the palm of their hands, with one click.

It’s that simple (and brilliant!).

So, for current nonprofit organizations that are utilizing mobile marketing, I applaud you for staying with modern modes of promotion. But please, question your mobile components and make sure that 1) your mobile site is actually optimized for a mobile phone and not simply a trans-coded redirect from your regular website and 2) that you are utilizing the best mode of mobile engagement for your organization (i.e. mobile site, mobile ads, mobile apps, mobile donation, SMS alerts, etc.). For nonprofit organizations that are currently not utilizing mobile marketing and advertising, what are you waiting for?

Eons Beyond Text

Naushad — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:50:47 +0000

While getting coffee I began chatting with some folks in the same building. As social norm dictate, we respectively inquired about what the other did. When I said “mobile marketing and engagement,” the immediate response was, “So you send out mass texts to everyone?” … Not exactly buddy.

Mobile marketing is still relatively new, and while people in the industry are talking about its evolution and how HTML5 and iAds allow for even more interaction with mobile users the rest of the world is still trying to get a grasp on what mobile marketing is at the most basic levels.

In a visual format, Google’s Mobile Marketing campaign for AdMob shows it best. Mobile marketing is much more a part of people’s lives than most realize. Every time an ad pops up when you’re playing Angry Birds, or when a redirect link appears in a text message, browser that pops up after you scan a QR code, or when you use a mobile site, you are using something created by a mobile marketing agencies like Textopoly. So what’s next?

Before I go on, I have a disclaimer: this blog is NOT about predictions, there are plenty of those out there. Nor will you hear me utter the now banal phrase “the year of mobile”. Instead, I’m just going to give a perspective on where I see a key area within the sphere of “mobile” going – the key area I speak of is mobile advertising.

Just the other week Google/AdMob released some staggering numbers. Google/AdMob is now receiving 2 billion ad requests per day, a data point which has quadrupled over the past year. With mobile impression numbers staggering to Everest heights, there has to be a way to stand out from the masses. And, there is.

Mobile sites and Mobile ad experiences are getting their sexy on. The graphics are top-tier, the information requested from the user is minimal and to the point, and the content is becoming more and more evolved. With platforms like iAd “you get access to the Apple audience, the world’s most engaged, passionate, and loyal consumer” who “engages with iAd ads for an average of 60 seconds per visit.” 60 seconds is a long time to capture someone’s attention. With technology like HTML5 it is easy to fill 60 seconds with multimedia and graphical content allowing for more advanced advertising on mobile devices including tablets all within a browser environment.

So where is mobile advertising going? To a world where the companies and customers can have a conversation through technology. A world where customers can directly give feedback through how far they are willing to engage in a company’s mobile advertisement. A world that’s eons beyond a text message.

CTIA in stacks

Naushad — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:56:51 +0000

The CTIA is an international nonprofit membership organization that represents the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products and everyone in between. CTIA organizes 2 wireless trade shows each year that everyone who does anything related to the word “mobile” attends. (If you want mobile antennas, find a Aggregator, see new mobile marketing technology or even need a new fuzzy cover for your blackberry, you attend the show!)

Over the years our team members have attended the show (Vegas one always rocks!) and each year, before the the upcoming show we get reminder pamphlets. This year the number of pamphlets for the Fall show just exploded and we thought it was hilarious that the wireless association who advocates the use of wireless would send out so much paper to us! Couldn’t they just send us a text message with a link to a mobile site for me to get info on the show and a way to register! Here are some fun snapshots of the stack we got in the mail last week!

Do you wish some of the paper you get in your mailbox would go mobile with an App or mobile site?

Newport Beach Film Festival – Case Study!

Naushad — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:42:01 +0000

We had the privilege of working with the Newport Beach Film Festival this year to harness the power of mobile & social. The campaings yeileded fantastic results and showcased the value of mobile when combined with print and other media.

The campaign consisted of an SMS strategy, a fully functioning mobile site, and a unique mobile + social media application. Take a look at the recently published case study and give us a holla’ if we can help you utilize the power of mobile!

Link to case study PDF: http://leep.it/jF

WAP Sites – What Are Brands Waiting For?

Shehzad — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:33:25 +0000

I am a man on the move. I, like millions of others, like to use my mobile phone to make phone calls, check email, text and browse the internet for whatever my heart desires. But, every day I run into sites that are not optimized for mobile. I am shocked at the number of brands that still don’t have WAP sites! Unfortunately, some of my favorite brands make that list: Subway, Virgin America, Club Monaco, GAP, NY Magazine, etc, etc. So, I ask – What are brands waiting for?

Maybe brands think that mobile-internet hasn’t caught on? That can’t be it. Mobile-internet usage is increasing at near-exponential rates – 110% increase in 2009 over 2008. (http://leep.it/hR)

Maybe brands think that most people don’t have internet-accessible mobile devices. Don’t think so. Nearly every (if not all) new mobile phone can access the web. Granted, viewing may be more pleasurable on smartphones, but even smartphones are more prevalent today than ever before. Every carrier offers a myriad of smartphones and many have become very affordable – special thanks to Google for indirectly paying carriers to sell Android phones (http://leep.it/hS)

Could it be that brands think users are happy accessing their normal websites from their mobile phones and thus they don’t need to create WAP sites? Nope. A recent report shows that 60% of mobile-internet users have had problems accessing websites on their mobile in the last 12 months. Additionally, 51% have experienced content on websites being too large or too small. (http://leep.it/hT)

So I am left dumbfounded. What in the world are brands waiting for? Do you know?

$21 million for traditional and $0 for mobile

Naushad — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:40:30 +0000

Is this really the ‘year of mobile’ when you have a premiere brand like Kaplan set to spend over $21 million dollars this first quarter on Online, Print and TV – yet $0 on mobile? Did Kaplan think that Google and Apple dropped over 1 Billion dollars in one week in mobile because they had an untimely brain-freeze?

The full story was posted on Media Post last week (http://leep.it/cR). I won’t rant on and on about this. However, it is amazing that neither mobile nor social media made it into the final plans of how to spend $21 million dollars. They could have allocated less than 0.01% of that and created some truly engaging interactions with mobile to compliment their TV,print and online elements. Even if they didn’t want to expend the effort in creating original interactive mobile engagements, or placing ads on the mobile internet, or creating mobile landing pages where their target users (full-time workers) could get more information while they eat there $5 subway footlong, they could have at least added text call to actions on print & TV ads to get some measurement of the media spend!

If you’re interested in knowing how we would have used SMS/text, mobile ads, a mobile site and social media for Kaplan give me a holla’, we’ll chat over a footlong & a diet coke. Naushad out.