The inspiration to create our iPhone app, PLANiT was rooted in my frustration from using other social networking apps out there on the market. The idea is not overly complex, I just wanted to be able to quickly and efficiently notify my friends about my plans. It can be a huge pain to call every single person, see what they are doing, see what their plans are, see if they are available to hang out, coordinate times with different people… it’s just a headache, especially when dealing with large numbers. With PLANiT, you choose the time, place, location, and activity, and send the plans to your friends. Your directionally challenged friends can even get directions by opening the Google Maps link in the message. No hassle, no stress, if they are free that night and want to have some fun then they will join you, if not you don’t have to hear reasons and excuses. Simple.

While I readily admit that I was not the first person to come up with this idea for an app, I absolutely believe that our app is the cream of the crop. The problem with the other apps out there is the hoops they make you jump through. Say you just want to let your friends know that you are going down to the corner bar for a couple beers and to watch a game or two. With some of the apps they want you to send the messages and coordinate everything through Facebook. Now, I am on FB and use it somewhat regularly, but I am not checking every three seconds like a 12-year-old girl, and presumably neither are you and your friends. If you send me a message through FB at eight at night, chances are very good I wont see it until the next day, leaving you hanging out to dry all alone for the night. I also have a good amount of friends who refuse to sign up for FB, or have deleted their account, needless to say they wont be getting your messages. Other apps out there want all your personal info (and sometimes all your contacts info such as Path got caught doing), usually so they can sell it to big marketing organizations who turn and sell it to other companies. Then they want to make anyone you try to send the message to sign up for their service and buy their app.

That is what sets PLANiT apart from those other apps. We aren’t trying to get your information to sell off, we don’t want anybody to have to sign up for a service, we don’t tie you down to social media users only, your friends don’t have to buy the app, etc. You make a plan, then send it out to whomever you want, period.

By Aaron Eldredge, Copywriter, @iDcomm

As a copywriter my favorite way of breaking up copy is by using headlines and sub-heads. This not only relaxes the reader a little bit by sectioning off the copy, it also allows you to show some personality and give direction with each section. Remember, a headline’s main function is to get the reader into the copy, so keep a balance between relevant information and personality/voice. There are some areas where headlines might not be totally appropriate, in these instances stick with the traditional approach of putting each idea or concept in it’s own paragraph. Think of it like those old book reports you had to do in middle school, where each paragraph is it’s own section or idea, but they all work together to form a greater overall picture of what you are trying to convey.

Another way to break up text is by putting it into a bulleted list. This is great for some subjects, but can also be harmful in the wrong situation. A bulleted list would be great for listing the technical specifications and features of an app, but would probably not work very well for a piece that requires some personality, such as a movie review or a critique of a local restaurant. I usually like to combine a bulleted list with some good intro copy, it makes for an informative read that isn’t overly dry for the reader.

By Aaron Eldredge, Copywriter, @iDcomm

When writing a headline it is important to remember what you are trying to do. Writing a good headline depends on you looking at various factors such as: what type of publication or media the copy is going in, what type of product or service you are offering, how much copy there is to back up your headline, etc. Traditionally your headline’s main function should be to get readers into your copy, to make that turn from headline to body copy. You can do that by grabbing their attention, then setting them up for what they are about to read. Be careful here, many copywriters get too caught up in getting the attention, often at the expense of the copy. Have you ever read a headline that was obviously just trying to grab attention and had little or nothing to do with the article or copy? Something like “Did Michael Jordan kill a man during his college days?”, then it turns out to be an article about Jordan taking a criminology course? While a headline like that you may get a little more traffic, but the readers are not going to be satisfied with being misled by the subject matter in your headline. Instead, focus on putting together a headline that:

• Is short and concise- people are very busy these days and attention spans are shorter than ever, don’t waste any space with fluff or set up, get to the point.
• Gives readers a good idea about what they are about to get into-  don’t mislead them and don’t get too cute, match the copy.
• Is creative- during your brainstorming sessions never sensor or edit yourself, there will be plenty of time for that later. Also, give your headlines some time to rest between brainstorming and editing, you never know what headlines might sound better or give you inspiration on a second look.
• Has a voice and tone consistent with the copy and product/service- if you are writing serious copy, such as an article concerning child safety or health concerns, just leave the humor out of it. On the other hand if you are writing copy for an upcoming promotional event at a bar or club, don’t be too dry, make it fun and playful. There is a time and place for everything, so always keep your audience in mind.

By Aaron Eldredge, Copywriter at iD Communications, @iDcomm

1- Make everything you do shareable.

-Start thinking about everything you can in the context of Twitter and social media. What is the best way to share your work with your followers, don’t just post a quick link to everything and expect people to flock to it. I think of social media as a waiter serving a nice meal, you don’t just dump the appetizers, drinks, main course, and dessert on the table and walk away. You first give your customers their drinks, then come back and order some appetizers, after they eat those come back so they can order their main dish, etc. Too often I see a company just throw up a link to their site and expect people to search it out for themselves, make it easier for them and you will see better results.

2- Vary the content you put on your feed.

-If you are always posting the same type of stuff, your followers are going to get bored and lose interest. One way to combat this is to rotate the type of content you post: post an article of relevance, a picture or info graphic, retweet one of your followers, make a blog post, link to a mention or review, talk about upcoming business or events, announce new clients or new happenings in the company, etc, etc.

3- Use social media to bolster your digital and online properties.

-If you are not echoing what you do on your website and other places on Twitter, you are not getting the most out of your social media marketing. Use your social media accounts to supplement your website, this will drive traffic to your site, and based on many SEO experts opinions, your social media will begin to factor more and more into your SEO ranking.

4- Engage your followers.

- Social media is by it’s own nature, social. Meaning that it is different than your website, its not a one-way line of communication. One of the reasons that people engage and interact with businesses on social media sites is because they like the fact that they can ask questions and engage with that company. If your Twitter account is full of one-way communication, it is not likely to be effective. Once a day, answer your follower’s questions, retweet some of them, or just start up a conversation.

5- Make your followers feel special.

-Do this by offering a product or service at a special discount just for your social media followers. Even if it is just giving them the first chance to purchase something first, just offer them something extra for following you. Other things you could consider include: Host an online event, a contest or giveaway, or give them some inside information on an upcoming service or product.

by Aaron Eldredge, Copywriter, @idcomm

Social media had its share of growing pains. It’s no longer the exclusive province of challenger brands. Large corporations entered social media all-in to try to find footing in this expanding medium. Some brands found success, while others found peril and PR nightmares.

The following are a few trends to look for in 2012:

Big Business Has Woken Up

The way corporate entities approach social media is shifting. Many companies realize that simply setting up Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts is just not going to cut it as a social media strategy. Brands will need to seriously shift perspective by treating social channels more like communication channels and less like an advertising channels in order to make a difference. From my perspective this transition has already occurred, judging by the extent to which brands’ Twitter accounts are now used as channels for CRM and customer support, managing pissed off or happy customers in near realtime.

ROI Is Still Huge

ROI will remain a key metric to any social media strategy. The concept of engagement is now becoming more and more an excepted metric. Corner office adoption of social media is improving, and more CEOs are recognizing the benefits of humanizing their brand.

Customer service, research and image branding could all be considered social media intangibles, yet all three are obviously important in business. Social channels impact every single aspect of business from human relations to finance, sales, and operations. It’s important for everyone to understand how social media affects their role and responsibilities. Opposite of television, social media is a dialogue vs. a monologue and if a brand is able to collect opinions real-time via social channels like Facebook polls, they can save a great deal of money on formal research studies.

Social TV Integration

Many shows have already begun to integrate social TV, either through polling or integrating social elements within the show. See my example of how both the UFC and WWE are already integrating social media into their programming. Social media played a pivotal role in the last presidential election, and it will likely be more integrated into political broadcasts.

As each news channel fights hard to keep their viewers engaged, networks like CNN and Fox have made significant strides to engage their audience, although some would argue that this social media integration has come at the expense of hard-hitting journalism and analysis.

TV Is Going Online in a Big Way

2012 will be the first time that the Super Bowl will be streamed live. The Super Bowl is generally viewed as the mother of all advertising spectacles; it will add a new dynamic into the digital component to advertising and social media integration.

There have been a lot of discussions about social media fatigue and whether brands refuse to play for that reason. With over a billion people on social media it’s irresponsible for any brand not to have some sort of presence. 2012 will be the year for brands to go beyond cookie cutter campaigns and really determine how it not only adds value to their company, but how it adds value for their customers. 2012 will be crucial for companies and social media. For those who don’t see a direct correlation between social media and sales consider:

 Niche Social Media Channels will Expand in a Huge Way

With the wide acceptance of mobile, many brands are finding meaningful engagement with audiences on Instagram, Pinterest and several other niche channels. Tumblr’s simple interface is rapidly being adopted by 20 & 30-somethings (plus a few of us old-timers).

“Social media is an ideal tool for moving people up the fan ladder, from being a casual fan of a brand to a loyalist, because the communication channels allow people to build stronger emotional connections with brands.”

In the parlance of my generation: 2012 should be an E-Ticket ride in Social Media (those of you under 40 should look up that term on WikiPedia).

As I’ve grown older, and hopefully wiser, (all the while avoiding adulthood), I’m more cognizant of my personal safety and its implications to my loved ones. Something I’ve always been aware of is notifying people of my intended destination and approximate return deadline (lest I end up having to gnaw off an arm a-la Aaron Rawlston). Following my creed of “there’s an app for that,” I researched and purchased a GPS mapping app that would allow me to transmit my location coordinates to a predetermined list of recipients. I would always accompany the information with a notation of what I was doing and when I expected to return.  If I was overdue, they would have my last known location and intended route information to send Search and Rescue. Upon my return, I would send a message notifying them I was home safe. I thought this a sound system and lauded myself for being so responsible and considerate.

On further investigation of my “system” of notification, I discovered that the email messages did not originate from my email, but rather the email of the app. Half the recipients didn’t know what it was, the others had it diverted to their SPAM box. Not exactly a lifeline upon which I wanted to depend. I began to consider the problem and went about solving it. I identified the core elements of the situation and matched these with the simplest functionality that required a minimal amount of user interaction:

• Location services, check.
• Contact list, check.
• SMS & email messaging capabilities, check.
• Emergency button that would transmit location and notify authorities with a single touch, check.
• Alert timer that would automatically send a message if user is overdue-check.
• Simple, yet elegant user-interface, check–well, in the works.
• Memo to programmer: dude, let’s light this candle and make it available to the, like, uh, 10-12 backcountry skiers that own iPhones and have a few bucks to spare.

This was really more of a personal project than a commercial endeavor and a chance to really learn some cool location services data.

One afternoon at a PTA meeting at my daughter’s school (my wife is PTA President, so I guess that makes me “First Dude”), I was talking to another father with similar recreational proclivities and was telling him about my latest project. As I made a case for the functionality, he listened politely (that politeness often reserved for listening to your spouse’s day in agonizing detail). When my diatribe was finished, he pondered for a moment then said “You know, I have a teenage daughter that I would love to be able to keep track of.” “Sha-Za-amm!” said I to myself.

Now, I’m a lot of things. Some good, some… not so much. But my highest calling and the thing I’m most proud of is being a father. You know the type, the guy whose face lights up when his kids enter the room. I confess, that’s me. I stumbled into fatherhood later in life after a long and legendary bachelorhood. As a result, I’m crazy about my kids as well as obsessed with their safety and wellbeing.

Having survived the teen years of twin boys, I’ve learned a thing or two about keeping tabs on them just enough to be assured of their safety and not enough to be disgusted. It’s a thin line, and one best not crossed. (Disclosure here: my sons are really great kids. They didn’t put me through any of the stuff I put my parents through.) We also have a daughter that’s 9 going on 30. I’m bracing myself for the teen years. My wife informs me that an ankle bracelet tracking device would subject her to countless forms of ridicule in Middle School and is really not a feasible plan. So I’ve been open to suggestions.

My wife and I got the boys cell phones when they were in 8^th grade. They had proven themselves responsible and knowing they were in contact gave us assurance as their geographic range increased exponentially. From as early as I can remember, our boys always had the earliest curfew of any of their peers – with the stipulation they could always get an extension provided 1) they called in advance to let us know and 2) they had a defined destination and activity (just hanging out looking for something to do did not meet this criteria). The reason for this early, yet flexible curfew was two-fold. We trusted them and their judgment and (selfishly, I admit) I didn’t want them calling and waking us up at 11:55 asking if they could play Halo 3 at Tommy’s for a while longer. The rule was, call by 10:30 and you can do whatever you like. Call after 10:31, your butt is home by 11. BTW, a text wouldn’t cut it. We wanted the assurance of a phone call and a conversation.

I set about to repurpose my logic and functionality, the end-result is an app that balances the need for assurance of the parents while not infringing on the privacy of the child.

aWareAbouts is a parental communication app designed to help manage the freedom and responsibility that comes with giving your child a mobile phone. The fact is your child is safer if they always have a mobile phone on them, our app takes this safety a step further. It allows you to know where your child is at all times, without spying or being overly intrusive. Some apps are designed to literally spy on your child, ours is designed to make kids safer without having to violate trust.

It works like this: A time is entered into your child’s phone by which they are to  check in with you. When this time comes, the app activates a reminder for the child to check in. If the child does not respond to the app within 5 minutes, an automatic message (text or email) is automatically sent with an emergency message containing the child’s location coordinates. The app also has an ‘emergency’ button that your child can press that will send out an emergency message with location coordinates and auto dial either 911 or your number. There is also a “Just Checking In” function that allows the child to send a message (text or email) along with their location at the single touch of a button.

Because the app is for the parents, yet is installed on the kid’s phone, it’s got to look cool and facilitate quick interaction. aWareAbouts offers 3 visual themes: one specifically designed to appeal to girls, one for boys and a unisex theme derived from the Nintendo 64 video game system.

aWareAbouts is inspired by my experiences as a father while taking into account the advances in technology. My hope is to keep children safe and parents informed and at peace (as much as we can be). I was hoping to have my daughter be one of the testers for this app, but my wife says she’s to young for a phone (so I got her an iPad).

In my daily life, I am drawn to good design an user experiences. This inspires my graphic & product designs. The first question I ask when evaluating an execution is “Does this make sense for the actual human being that will be interacting with this”? If not, no matter how elegant or cool the design may be, it doesn’t make the cut.

After years of tagging my BlackBerry emails with “and nobody cares that you have an iPhone” mostly out of envy of my correspondents whose messages were signed “sent from my iPhone”, I paid the money to terminate my Verizon contract and joined the ranks of the technologically elite and purchased an iPhone 3Gs. I was hooked right away. I offered to do the same for my sons and converted them as well (we kept my wife’s Verizon contract intact in case we actually needed to use a phone to place a call).

Having designed products and websites for years, I naturally began thinking about mobile apps. In every endeavor, whether work-related or recreational, I was always looking for an app for that. When I couldn’t find one that suited the task at hand or when the offerings were less-than-inspiring, I would begin to think about what I would want in an app for this pursuit. I began to map out apps in my spare time and then started targeting them toward a purpose On multiple occasions, the end result has been an app for a completely unrelated purpose (see upcoming posts on our new parental-notification app aWareAbouts).

The result has been a complete paradigm (love that word) shift and business model change. For the first time in my professional life, I’m actually producing something I own – selling a product instead of simply generating an invoice for intellectual property and moving on to the next project (don’t get me wrong, I like generating these invoices, especially doing the work along the way). I’m totally stoked to bring these apps into people’s lives that will hopefully enhance their days when they use them.

Now, where’s that dang “Like” button? I’d press it if there were one!