This post is from an entry I did a few months back for Attack!, a guerrilla and event marketing services agency I co-founded and where I served as President before co-founding Mosio, but the fundamental ideas are the same: new technologies and gadgets are great for those of us who love the newest shiny things to come out, but implementation and adoption at your organization is tricky at the bleeding edge. At Mosio / Text a Librarian, we see a full spectrum of technology interest/knowledge/experience in libraries, including a lot of librarians who are truly at the bleeding edge of new technologies and social media. I remain on the fence about QR Codes, but I certainly appreciate the enthusiasm. Rather than “Ctrl+F and Replace “Business” with “Library”, the original post is below, unchanged.

Being a marketing and technology fan, I was excited to read Ad Age’s Insights White Paper, Shiny New Things (pdf). Attack! has always been a very technology-friendly company. The mantra for our success is “People, Process and Technology” so I read the white paper on my flight to our LA office, excited to present some ideas I had brewing in my head along with any new nuggets of wisdom I found. In reading about the behavior and general importance of early adopters to brands and marketers, I couldn’t help but think how early adoption, while a passion (and sometimes expensive hobby) for many consumers, is dangerous for businesses. And as David Berkowitz points out, “many agencies will include it [the iPad] in their pitches and plans without thinking whether it’s the best platform for meeting their clients’ objectives.” It’s apparent that the danger of early adoption, for iPads or other shiny objects, can be easily overlooked in the search for innovation. Here’s why:

Shiny new things (SNTs) require employee training.
Regardless of how simple a Shiny New Thing (SNT) is to use, implementing it into your business requires implementation and training with some employees needing morHe than others. Implementing anything new into your business process needs careful thought so the learning curve and mistakes are minimized. Throwing SNTs into the mix increases your chances of confusing and/or frustrating your staff.

The first version is never the best, don’t bet the farm on Beta.
Every early adopter knows that the first version of a new technology is never the best. This means your business is subject to all of the glitches and bugs of the brand new product. It definitely pays to wait it out for the next version if you determine it is something that could prove beneficial to your employees or clients.

Shiny new things can make you lose focus.
I want an iPad. I want one badly. I think they’re a game changer for many industries and as I anticipated their arrival, I started brainstorming all of the possible ways Attack! could use them for our client projects. I’ll admit, I also tried to brainstorm how I could use one at work, ready to enlighten my partners on a revelation in Non Traditional Marketing Agency Management. My “Reasons Partners Should Get iPads” brainstorm notes are below:

There’s nothing wrong with getting an iPad because you want one and we’re headed to the Apple store at lunch to get them, but the mistake in the above thinking that it was rooted in “a solution looking for a problem”: I tried to think of reasons an iPad could be useful rather than thinking of all of the inefficiencies and challenges needing solutions and concluding that the iPad was the perfect tool to solve them. There is great wisdom in knowing the difference.

If you absolutely can’t resist…
There’s nothing wrong with being an early adopter. It’s great (and fun) to be in search of the New New Thing, of new ways of being innovative at your company. Some of the best ideas come out of being open to new technologies and products that can help your business grow. If you can’t resist the temptation to look for new technologies to implement, here are a few things to consider:

Make a list of your challenges and areas of improvement needed at your company.
By defining what it is that you need to improve on, ways your employees can improve process and efficiencies, when SNTs show up, you’ll know instantly where there is a fit. You’ll have a problem looking for a solution. We’ve recently defined several areas in our business where text messaging can improve efficiencies in our Account Management teams and can be sold as add-on services by our Account Executives. The end result will be time saved, archived data in contractor communications and additional revenues to our programs by giving events and street campaigns a longer tail.

Create a new technologies decision phase.
It’s pointless to tell early adopters to wait. Early adopters wait long enough hearing rumors, seeing leaked photos, specs and standing in lines to get their beloved new technologies. Instead, implement an internal timeline and process where you will explore if and how a SNT can help your company. Start with 60 days. Use the time to attend demos, identify pros and cons and ultimately make an informed decision on how you will implement the SNT into your business. You might need more than 60 days, but after the launch of a product, that should be long enough to help you determine if it will be good for business and also to hear about when the next version is coming out. See if you can wait for version 2.0.

Know which employees are technology-friendly and who aren’t.
This will be helpful in the implementation and training phase. Employees who are excited about new technologies can be the ones who help you test them out before you decide they should be implemented and they can help you educate the others who are less comfortable. If over 50% of your employees are not technology-friendly, every new SNT you add will be a struggle, so it’s best to pick your battles. If you have an employee or two helping you test things out in the new technologies decision phase, make sure they understand that you ARE testing out the technology against your needs, not trying to find a place for it to work.

Know when to cut bait.
You should default to “we don’t need this” then see if the solution it creates beats the need to let it go. But, as soon as it becomes apparent (hopefully sooner than later), stop testing the technology and let it go. Your time is valuable, your employees time is valuable, so there’s no point in hanging on to wait and see if something magical will happen.

I’m off to buy my iPad…because they’re awesome and I want one.

As we gear up for another ALA Annual the company has had some interesting discussions on new announcements and our directions in the world of library software.

A couple of weeks ago I had a great meeting/conversation with one of our partners and the discussion of library customer service came up. At the end of our partner meeting, someone said “we can give patrons access to all of the data in the world, but if we aren’t there for them from a customer service standpoint, it won’t matter.” Very true. Andy Woodworth’s blog post “Why Closing More Public Libraries Might Be the Best Thing (…Right Now)” [link below] came up in an internal company meeting, specifically his two points about customer service and advocacy (from the comments it seems the post got a lot of people talking).

The idea of improved customer service, whether at libraries or businesses in general, will continue to be a significant function of an organization’s success in the information age. Aaron Tay’s recent blog post about regularly scanning Twitter and the web for feedback is great (he gives some tips on how to do so) [link below], obviously taking a page from what many companies are doing as part of their customer service: listening to social media mentions for good and bad comments. Neither are the first to talk about the ongoing need for pro-active/reactive customer service in libraries, but both are current and relevant.

So what does this mean for Mosio and Text a Librarian?

We’re still very new to libraries and we LOVE working with them. Frankly, we’re just getting started. While we have friends who are librarians and have a handful of amazing people advising us, we’re not librarians ourselves, nor have we ever pretended to be. In many ways we see this as a distinct advantage to building our product: we cast aside any preconceived ideas of how things should be done and focus instead on simplicity, usability and feedback from our customers. We also know the inner workings of mobile technologies, enabling us to offer reliable (and certified) mobile services to libraries. We recently made an announcement that Mosio’s Text a Librarian is being used by over 500 academic and public libraries. It’s something we’re very proud to have accomplished in such a short amount of time, but we could not have done it without listening to the people who matter most to our success, the librarians who use our software with the benefit of communicating with more patrons on-the-go. The combination of our expertise and passion about creating an amazing library service will continue to be the keys to our ongoing success.

Text Messaging: It’s Not Just for Reference Anymore

In the same announcement we also mentioned that Mosio is now offering our full list of mobile services to libraries. Text messaging can be used for so many things beyond virtual reference and we’re set up to offer additional services to the benefit of our customers. We’re thrilled to be able to continue working with new and existing customers in offering technology solutions that will help us fulfill our vision for our library software: Patron Relationship Management.

Patron Relationship Management

We truly believe this is going to be one of the key tools libraries will need in the future to maintain great patron relationships and relevance in the community. Two comments we hear often are “I wish we could answer all patron questions this way” and “I wish everything could be in one place.” One of those comments we take as a compliment, the other we are taking seriously as a wish list item. Our goal for Text a Librarian was always to start simply, create web-based software that’s easy to use, reliable and certified by the mobile carriers, then grow additional features, elements and uses to continue giving more patrons access to libraries on their mobile phones. You can expect to see more from us in the mobile technology space, but every new product or service we add will have patron communications and relationship management in mind.

Links

Andy Woodworth: Why Closing More Public Libraries Might Be the Best Thing (…Right Now)
Aaron Tay: Why libraries should proactively scan Twitter & the web for feedback – some examples
LISWire: Mosio’s Text a Librarian in Over 500 Libraries, Announces Add-On Mobile Services

What really grabbed my attention was the mention that both Obama and Medvedev would rather communicate with each other directly than involve their staff members having to print out messages and deliver them by hand.  (Somewhere out there a White House staffer is looking for a new internship.)  Truly the speed at which you get information is important and sometimes saving a few extra minutes makes all the difference.

The notion that the world’s leaders can all text and email each other from their mobile devices adds quite a wrinkle to the term International Diplomacy.  International agreements, arguments and accords can now develop and take place via the clicking sound of QWERTY keypads.  I’d like to point out that Medvedev uses a decidedly less compact mobile device.

How this affects and changes a process that used to be carefully prepared and reviewed may be too hard to tell but the truth is that people will always want to find ways to make communication easier, more effective and more accessible.

This got me thinking.  If I was Obama would I want to be able to reach Medvedev via SMS?  Of course!

Obama: “OMG thanks for your help at the nuclear security summit.  I told you that DC in the spring is nice.”

Medvedev: “No worries.  Hey, while I’m in town can you get me tickets to the Hockey Playoffs?  Ovechkin FTW!”

Obama: “Settle down!  It’s the Blackhawks time!  Let me see what I can do, brb.”

In February we launched a “Post to Twitter” function within the Mosio mobile messaging platform and Mosio’s Text a Librarian. We wrote a blog post about why this was good for libraries: user generated marketing.

I’ve pasted the original blog post about why it was good for libraries below. It’s great for every business and now the post to Facebook function gives organizations the ability to post questions and answers to the world’s largest and most powerful social network. If you’re a librarian you can read the information below as is, but if you’re a marketing or customer service manager at a company, simply replace the word “patron” with “customer” and “library” with “company” and you’ll see that the feature holds the same great function for either.

Enjoy!

Original Post

Click for Bigger Image of Mosio's Messaging Platform & Text a Librarian on the iPad

Back in January I wrote a blog post titled “The iPad, Tablets and E-Readers in Libraries: Game Changers or are they just Another Mobile Technology?” My decision was that I was uncertain, but suspected they were just another mobile technology. This weekend I got one and I have to say, I love it. I think they can and will be super efficient in various work environments. I’m actually faster at typing on my iPhone. I’m sure as with anything, practice makes perfect, but unless I’m without my laptop, I won’t be typing any more blog posts or writing an proposals on my iPad. If needed, I’ll use my phone to get the thoughts out.

Naturally, my first inclination was to test out our software on the iPad and it works amazingly well. All of the moving text/flashing box notifications work and you can get around quickly if you need to open a new browser window for additional research. Is it as fast as working on a computer? Absolutely not. The iPad fills a strange gap between mobile phone and laptop. My biggest use for my iPad is what I thought it would be: to read blogs and online articles like a book. Only with this “book” i’m able to click on and watch a relevant video as well, very cool. I handed it to my wife to check out and after about 15 minutes, I returned to the room with 3 new games on it, she was playing on of them. I wasn’t too surprised.

I’m happy to say that Mosio’s Text Messaging Platform and Text a Librarian offer great experiences on the iPad, just as our CTO Jay Sachdev, said it would. As we continue to build out more features and solutions for our clients, we’ll continue doing our best to make sure the experience is a good one, regardless of what industry you’re in and which device you’re working on.

Today Mosio’s Text a Librarian goes live with OCLC’s QuestionPoint.  Libraries who are customers of both can choose to have text message questions show up and be answered in QuestionPoint.

Librarians who are staffing QuestionPoint will be able to immediately answer text questions, noticeable by a “TXT MSG” prefix and a new answering interface.

Text message questions and answers will be included in QuestionPoint’s reporting.

Of course, all of your Text a Librarian functionality still works too.  Patrons can still text for instructions, autoresponders will be sent when the library is closed, and message footers will be added to promote library events.  Messages will be threaded inside of QuestionPoint as they are in Text a Librarian, so you can easily carry out a full conversation.

TAL marketing materials are still available from your login, so be sure to promote your service!

As lead developer at Mosio, I want to send a big thank you to OCLC’s team for helping us make this happen. They were all a pleasure to work with.

If you’re interested in learning more, sign up for our weekly webinars.

Apparently I won two free tickets to Wicked, the musical playing in San Francisco. Let me start by saying when I got this text message last night, I was thrilled. My wife and I have talked about going for a few months now and other things have come up. So on January 9th we were shopping and I saw a “Win Tickets to See Wicked!” poster in the BART station in San Francisco. Being a curious person and also “in the business”, I will pretty much text anything. I vote for American Idol contestants, text questions to The History Channel and get text message alerts from Wired Magazine and the Syfy Channel. I’ve seen my fair share of both great and poorly executed mobile marketing campaigns.

After texting WITCH to 42903, I promptly got a response back saying “We’re sorry but the contest has ended. Thank you for your interest in Wicked the Musical.” My first thought was “bummer, I missed out” and my second thought was “bummer, they missed out on an opportunity to keep me interested.”

How did they miss out on an opportunity?

1. Use the Space.
Their “sorry” reply was only 89 characters, leaving 71 characters on the table (45%). I’m a huge fan of white space, but in my opinion, a text message is no place to try and get artsy. 71 characters is plenty of space to create an additional call-to-action.

2. Wicked has a wap site.
Being interested in the musical, I would have clicked on a wap link on my phone had there been one.

3. Wicked has a Twitter account.
A Twitter account can easily be made mobile friendly by adding an “m.” in between http://twitter.com/wicked_musical

Two months have passed…
That was January 9th and a lot has happened since then, none of which has involved my wife and I buying tickets and going to see Wicked. I’m telling you honestly, we really want to go, but life happens and other things grab one’s attention. So last night, almost 2 months to the day, I get a random text message with “Congratulations! You won 2 tickets for WICKED! You will receive the redemption instructions via email within the next 48 hours. Please REPLY with your EMAIL.” So I did.

I’m not trying to be nit-picky here and even though they said they’d get back to me within the next 48 hours, I think there’s one more opportunity missed here. Instead of being like a friend who texts you and says “I have something AWESOME to tell you and I’m going to do so within the next 2 days” they could have sent an auto-responder email to tell me my email has been received, that more exciting details are on the way, but also give me photos, links, post-to-social-media buttons, etc. So here I am…waiting.

Wicked marketing folks: I hope you’re not reading this with a harsh tone and no, I’m not just saying that because I haven’t gotten my free tickets yet. In fact, I’ve now officially blogged about it and will be posting this to Facebook and Twitter as well so you get your proper “bounce” from the give away, but I thought this was a great example of how a mobile marketing could have been better utilized in an advertising campaign. Call me.

UPDATE:
Wicked (and not in the Boston way)…I just got the following message: Please disregard the txt u received re: WICKED. It was due to a transmission error. Ur info is secure & we apologize 4 confusion. For questions intsit@gmail.com

In case I have questions I can email their, uh, gmail address. I actually DO have a question: Will you call my wife and break it to her that we’re no longer going to see WICKED for free? Cuz that would be great. KTHXBAI!

Seriously, though, I do not envy the panic that took place when they realized they sent a “Winner!” text to everyone who entered the contest. That probably sucked. But, besides this mobile marketing fail, I stick to my original points about how other opportunities were missed in the first place. And speaking of opportunities…WICKED Mobile Marketing folks: If you’re looking for someone new to handle your text messaging campaigns, please consider Mosio.

There seems to be quite an interest about the use of QR codes in libraries lately. I personally have mixed feelings and am still wondering if it’s a bandwagon worth jumping on just yet.

Are they cool? Yes. They’re a cell phone’s version of a secret decoder ring. They definitely have a form factor. But are they worth taking the time to QR Code a whole bunch of text and urls, then work at getting patrons and customers excited about using them (of course, after they have discovered and downloaded an app that works for their particular phone)?

I’m simply not sure and am going to need a little bit more convincing before I get excited.

By the way, if you’re excited or just curious about them, here’s a great QR Code Generator from www.kaywa.com, no registration required.

I’ve enjoyed seeing Google’s Favorite Places QR Codes around San Francisco, yet recently read this post about a QR scanner reading the code wrong. Personally, I’ve had good and bad experiences with the reader, mostly using it to test them out (I have yet to see one in the real world compelling enough to break out my phone and use my BeeTagg iPhone App, but I’m ready for when I do). I’m not sure if it’s the reader or my aiming abilities, some times it has taken a few snaps to get it right.

Secret Decoder Ring
A Christmas Story is my favorite movie to watch during the holidays. It’s a classic that will always be watched by my family. There’s a scene where Ralphie has waited for his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring with great anticipation, finally gets it and runs upstairs, closes the door to be alone, then begins to decode his secret message. If you’ve seen the movie, you know how it turns out. Here it is in the form of a QR Code:

If you don’t remember the outcome: Ralphie is disappointed with the results.

One could argue that the problem isn’t the decoder ring, but the content that is disappointing, but let me pose a question: When you saw the QR Code above, did you pull out your phone to see what the code said? If so, great and thank you for participating! If not, I understand. This is my reasoning for the mixed feelings and I happen to LOVE mobile technologies.

The future of libraries and businesses is in mobile because it’s a device that is always with people. By being available to them everywhere, you increase your communication opportunities with more patrons and customers. That said, with so many different sub-technologies on mobile devices, at some point a choice has to be made on where you place your time, energy and money. Right now and for many years to come, text messaging is the most ubiquitous mobile technology outside of voice calls.

What’s Best About Them?
They’re free, they’re pretty cool and for those who have the software downloaded onto their phone, they can be quick and useful (although someone here with a Blackberry Curve disagrees about the quick).

Other Possibilities: Search Engine Optimization
I recently read on a search engine blog, a speculation that Google will read the codes and index the information in them (which is why we have one on our contact page). I’ll keep an eye out, but have yet to see any confirmation of this. This use, however, isn’t mobile.

My Pick for Coolest “Code” Library Mobile Technology: Red Laser
Red Laser is a barcode scanner (just like the ones at the check out). Why could it be great for libraries? Because patrons out in the world could scan books, DVDs, etc and instead of buying or renting them at the store, see if their library has it, then put it on hold. Definitely a bigger jump in programming on the library side of things, but very useful bridging the gap between the library and being out in the world. OCLC and Occipital have already caught on to this and partnered to build a WorldCat Local App.

Do you think QR Codes will be worth your time, energy and money? If so, how do you see them working best?

By the way, for those of you who didn’t pull out your phone to snap the QR Code, here’s the response (the same one Ralphie got in the movie):

From the Steve Krug’s new book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy

We’ve added a simple, but very effective feature we call “Text for Instructions.”

Simply stated, it means your patrons only have to text your keyword to 66746 for instructions on how to use your service.

What happens next?
1. Your patrons get an auto-responder with instructions on saving your keyword and the number 66746 to their contacts for when they need to ask you a question. The instructions include a link to a mobile web page with detailed instructions in case they need them.

It acts like a registration system that gets them started with your service without having to have a pressing question or message on-the-spot. They save your info in their phones for later when they do.

2. The Mosio system assigns the phone number a PatronID associated with your account, so after that all they need to do is text their question to 66746.

That’s it!

Note: The old way of texting your keyword + their message to 66746 still works, no problem. But this way patrons can see your poster (example below) or promotional materials, text for instructions, then save everything in their contacts when they need it later.

If you’re a Mosio / Text a Librarian customer and want more specific information about it, like how you can customize/edit the instructions, it’s listed in the New Features section inside your account.