Soup, Spoons and Social Media

I went to Subway last week. I don’t typically eat at Subway, but there is one by my office and I didn’t have much time for lunch. As I walked in, on the door, there was a window cling encouraging me to order soup with a combo. When I got in line, I looked up and there on the menu was an ad encouraging me to order soup. At the register there was another sign.

So I ordered soup.

I grabbed a seat. And realized I didn’t have a spoon. I looked up by the straws and napkins. There were forks and knives, but no spoons. So I asked the woman behind the counter – the same woman who sold me the soup – if they had any spoons. After asking another employee, she confirmed that they had no spoons in the restaurant.

The big picture

It seems both silly and odd that a franchisee would go to all the trouble of putting up all the signs and ads and then mess up something as simple as having spoons.

But I think this type of thing is very common in business. Often, we see people obsess over seemingly insignificant details, only to completely overlook a major issue. They work on the details and lose sight of the big picture.

As designers, we see this a lot.

Clients spend time and energy critiquing minor elements of a design, but often forget to shore up the logistical issues that support a campaign. Marketing and design are critical, but so is customer service and support. Think about my Subway story for a second. The marketing worked. I entered the store. And I purchased soup. However because of a minor – but critical – oversight, I was a dissatisfied customer. 

Social media and a lack of spoons

Right now, social media is all the rage. Everyone seems to be talking about how social media can help their business. Worrying that they’ll be left behind if they aren’t on Twitter or Facebook. Consultants are aggressively selling social media services.

But I fear many of these folks are losing sight of the big picture. Social media is a tactic. And yes, it can be an effective and powerful tactic. But as companies develop their social media plans, they cannot forget that it is just the beginning of the customer relationship. Strategically, you need to think through the entire customer experience. What are you going to do with your customers after you reach out to them through social media? How do you want to engage your customers on a continuing basis?

I’m not saying social media is bad or that it isn’t important. There are absolutely uses for social media in business and marketing. Just remember that the social media tactics are only the beginning. You and your company need to prepare for a long-term customer relationship.

Or in other words, when you decide to sell soup, make sure you are ready to provide spoons.

The internet is the end of...

We see it every day. “The internet is the end of (fill in the blank).” Think about all the things the internet has been accused of killing during it’s short, murderous lifespan:

• the music industry
• newspapers
• magazines
• journalism
• print
• television
• cable
• retail stores
• cinema
• copyright
• civilization
• travel agents
• encyclopedias
• books
• and more…*

Just do a Google search for “The internet is the end of…” I’m surprised no one has blamed the internet for the downfall of the American auto industry.

The way I see it, the internet is only the end of one thing: stability.

The internet – and the business world around it – is constantly changing. Gone are the days where you can find a workable business model and nurse it for a few years (or decades). Instead, the internet favors those that will constantly adapt to the change. Product life spans are shorter than ever. Innovation occurs at an amazingly rapid pace.

All of the industries that the internet is “killing” are industries that have not had to seriously innovate in decades. They’ve been trying to find ways to make the internet fit into their established business model.When the internet doesn’t complement their established processes, they panic. And it’s the end of the world.

But there are companies thriving all over the world. Companies with plans and business models that use the internet’s strengths to their advantage. And companies that aren’t afraid to change directions if that’s what’s needed to be successful.

Companies that adapt to the constant lack of stability will thrive. Companies that don’t will disappear.

* Feel free to add any other things the internet has killed in the comment section…

Quick reflections on the AIGA South Carolina's Web Design Panel

I had the privilege of moderating the AIGA South Carolina Web Panel discussion a few weeks ago. The panel featured a number of local web designers and developers - Gene Crawford and Jay Berry from Period Three; Matthew Smith from Squared Eye; Jason Beaird, Greg Lunn and Ken Seals from Cyberwoven; and AIGA SC Vice President and hired gun James Miller.

We had a really fascinating discussion about trends in web design and how web designers work. A few quick reflections:

Continuing education. The web is constantly changing. And for web designers, that means that they need to keep up with the most current techniques and methods. Most use internet resources to keep up with new concepts and the web design industry has essentially created a virtual cooperative to share information online.

Personally, I think this commitment to continued learning and sharing is one of the most fascinating parts of the web development community. I feel like the online print design resources are focused mainly on inspiration. The web community has managed to merge the inspiration element with technical knowledge and information on best practices. There really seems to be a dedication to improving the quality of the industry as a whole.

Side projects. Pretty much everyone on the panel has a side project. Matthew has Pattern Tap. Gene and Jay have Unmatched Style. Jason has Publix for Pennies. As I look around at other established web professionals, they all seem to have developed side projects as well. The goals for these side projects are very rarely profit. These projects are essentially client-less projects that allow for exploration and experimentation. A chance to use the skills that you have learned to contribute back to the community in some way.

(Honestly, we really don’t have an equivalent to these side projects in the print design world. The printing process is so expensive, you really need to have some sort of client to foot the production bill… Our closest parallel is probably working pro bono.)

IE6 sucks. Really, if you are still using Internet Explorer 6, upgrade now. Firefox and Safari are fine options. And free…

Client relationships. In the print world, client relationships are often simple transactional affairs. There is a project beginning and a project end - usually resulting in a deliverable of some sort. In the web world, you have to find a way to deal with the ongoing maintenance of the site and other issues like hosting and email. With web work especially, a good contract is vitally important.

The panelists were going to pool a number of resources and publish them online. I’ll link to them as soon as the list goes live.

A realization...

I was lecturing about the internet and web design to my class the other night and I asked them to tally up how much time they spend during the week interacting with traditional media - TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. I then asked them to guess at how much time a week they spend on the internet.

Every single student in my class spent more time on the internet. Every one.

And when I thought about it, I fall into that category, too. I spend far more time on the internet than I do with traditional media. I barely watch TV any more and when I do, it’s recorded on DVR and time-shifted. I listen to radio during my commute to work, but that’s all. I read newspapers and magazines, but not nearly as often as I used to…

The internet is always around for me. It’s on my machine at work. It’s at home (and wireless) on my laptop. And with my iPhone, it’s everywhere in between.

I think we as designers - particularly print designers - are finally beginning to adapt our thinking to look at these changing trends. But we better hurry up, because many people are already well on the way to making a dramatic shift.