Memphis Fast Forward is a socially, communally, and politically active non-profit. The progress of fundraising, initiatives, and the movement of their agenda all need to be evident on their website, and easily editable for quick changes. Sitewrench provides all of that, giving them ample space for multiple pages and lots of info, as well as being simple to manage and add content. The color scheme of deep blacks and strong photography lend gravity to the organization's goals. The homepage uses jQuery to power all the movement that you see, and the rotating banner of photos loads quickly. We also styled their Blog template to align with the look of the site.

www.memphisfastforward.org

 

Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson, located in Southaven, MS, is a motorcycle wonderland, where you can custom build your Harley, buy all the gear you need, and connect with other bikers. They needed a sales- and product-focused site that would continue to emphasize them as the HD leader in the area. Check out their use of widgets like weather, news, social media, and calendar, right on the home page. The black-and-white color scheme is strong, graphic, and powerful. The static (non-scrolling) header anchors the site, and keeps the pertinent links and info at hand. This site is Flash-free, using jQuery to bring in a lot of life and movement, without ever slowing the site down, and with the added benefit that all movement will translate to the mobile site. Speaking of mobile sites, the mobile templates we created for ST-HD are really great!

www.southernthunderhd.com

If it's been more than a year or two since your website was designed, it's time to start planning for a redesign.

Why? Well, aside from refreshing your image and keeping up with web trends, there are quite a few recent SiteWrench options and features that might be an advantage to you. Here are a few clues that it's time for a redesign:

1. You feel like your site is getting less and less functional. (The truth is, web technologies are becoming more efficient - your website is simply staying the way it was.)

2. There is a lot of dead space on the sides of the screen when your website is displayed, i.e., the page content is much more narrow than the screen or doesn't use all the space. The content may also be left-aligned, leaving you with a big blank area to the right. (These days, most desktops and laptops are formatted more like a widescreen - think about watching a widescreen movie on an older television - remember the black bars at the top and bottom? Same issue.)

3. Your website doesn't display well on a mobile phone browser, or is hard to navigate via touchscreen. (Have you ever checked? Things that look great on a 20" screen may not translate to a 4" one.)

4. The media you have on your site doesn't play well, loads slowly, or is difficult to find. It really doesn't work well on a mobile phone, either. (You may be operating on an outdated player. These days, there are many ways to upgrade that performance. We've also got media archiving, which saves all your media for future searching and viewing!)

5. The images on your site load slowly and are not the size and quality you'd like. (Again, it's about the "player" that displays the photos - that technology advances frequently. We can have you loading large, clear photography quickly and easily.)

Want to know how these changes can affect YOUR site? Read the blog post below. ("How a Redesign can Revolutionize Your Site.")

As always, please feel free to call us with concerns or concerns. We're here for you. 1 901.757.5855.

Ready to Explore a Redesign?

Here are 5 big ways your web presence can be revamped:

(Disclaimer: These are by no means ALL of the amazing things SiteWrench can do nowadays, but they're pretty sweet.)
 

1. Greater functionality and features with SiteWrench

SiteWrench is consistently being updated with new features, updated functions, and improved performance. These are just a few options that are now standard for most of the sites that we work with. 

(click to enlarge photos)

Social media links in a prominent position on every page (or in the footer, like this shot from the Memphis Zoo website) will help you connect to your network on a daily basis. If your organization has an app, why not advertise it in the same section?

Link your Twitter and other feeds (widgets) with your home page so visitors can see what is being said and done, literally, up-to-the-minute! Other feeds could be blog entries, the day's events via Calendar, or news!

An interactive calendar with integrated event registration will involve your web visitors even further. List View makes your events easy to read and sort.

2. Adaptability to Mobile Devices

Mobile sites are characterized by simple, prioritized, convenient navigation, formatted for a small screen and integrated with your smart phone's features

3. Changes in Layout and Design

There are two main recent changes in layout and design that you'll notice:

The most obvious is the migration to centered, widescreen-formatted layouts. Remember when you'd watch a widescreen format movie, and you had black lines at the top and bottom to make it fit on your square TV? That's the same problem you see here. In recent years, designers have been taking advantage of the increased space widescreen monitors offer, as well as centering the content so that it looks correct, no matter what computer is displaying it.

(right: Riverside Baptist Church, 2005 - BEFORE)

 

The second big change, related to design, is the trend of very clean, uncluttered visuals, with fewer textures. You'll see more white space (which isn't always white - just empty), larger photography (see point #5), simpler color schemes, and uncomplicated fonts. Design is always changing, of course, but this design trend is likely to stick around awhile - simply because it looks great on mobile devices, and they're the fastest growing web visitors!

(right: Riverside Baptist Church (in production), 2011 - AFTER)

4. Media Archiving and Better (Easier!) Media Performance

Playing media from your desktop site, mobile site or app gets easier and easier with media archives - visitors will be able to search and play media directly from the site. The archiving allows you to upload an entire series of videos, and keep them available long-term! (Sitewrench users that have been on the system for a while should talk to their account rep about media migration, if they haven't already - it can really simplify things and speed up performance!)

All of this makes it easier for you to upload, as well as easier for users to view.

Your View (Internal):			Website View (External):

5. Treatment of Images

Image display and treatment have made obvious changes in the past few years - particularly now that Flash is on its way out. Previously, images were powered by Flash and had to continually reload to display. This meant that they needed to be small enough to load quickly. Now, with Banner Rotator and other options, you can display as many photos as you want, let them rotate as a gallery, and even use screen-size photography as a background!

Here are some recent photo-centric designs:

www.idlewildchurch.org	www.wolfriver.org
www.memphisinmay.org	www.allurebridals.com

Want to see some before-and-after photos? Click on these blue words.

As always, please feel free to contact us with questions. 1 901.757.5855.

We recently did some research.

In order to determine our ministry-related clients’ fastest-growing audience, we looked at their web traffic statistics. What we found exceeded our expectations. In September 2011, an average of 13% of all ministry-related web traffic represented mobile devices. Compared with September 2010, that’s an increase of 176%! At that rate, mobile traffic should account for 40% of all traffic by late 2013.

Obviously, the fastest-growing web audience is mobile users. What is true for churches and nonprofit organizations was quickly evident for businesses and other entities as well.  If that many of your web visitors are using your site from a mobile device, it’s probably time to adapt to the trend and convert your desktop site for mobile navigation - get a mobile site, in other words.

Mobile site: (def) a mobile translation of your desktop site, formatted for small screens and fingertips, and focused on ease of navigation.

As opposed to desktop sites, mobile sites focus on:

• convenience for on-the-go users
• a more natural vertical display
• simple navigation
• prioritized content
• integration with smart phone features

Translating your desktop site for mobile use isn’t complicated, and won’t represent a lengthy process if you aren’t making changes to your main site. Many organizations choose to make changes to their main site at the same time, however, as they begin to see all of the ways a mobile site can serve their public and increase their business.

What might a mobile site actually DO for your organization? In general, put the most-looked-at information at center stage:

• Engage visitors with a map, showing them the route from their home to your location.
• Keep everyone in the loop with an interactive calendar that includes the capability of event registration.
• Share your thoughts daily with a Blog module that users can read anywhere they go.
• Put your media in their hands. This means audio and video - teaching series, podcasts, product demos, or video introductions to your staff, for example.
• Import your social media feeds. Tweet about news, recommendations, or partner sites.

When we’re talking about mobile sites and mobile interaction with organizations, the topic of mobile apps inevitably comes up, and it’s a valid discussion. “If we’re going to get a mobile site, shouldn’t we just go ahead and get an app instead?” Here’s the thing - an app and a mobile site aren’t the same thing, and don’t serve the same function. They may have similar uses, but they have different users.

• A mobile site serves the needs of those who have a specific need or question and want access on-the-go, or who interact with an organization on an occasional basis. Think of someone who wants to check out a church for the first time, or make a one-time donation to an organization. A mobile site is an Internet site, streamlined.

• An app might be for more regular, even daily, users whose primary goal is simply to be connected. Think of someone who wants to see what’s up with their church friends, interact with an organization they support, or follow a daily blog. An app is not the Internet; it’s software, with web functions.

Ideally, looking at the statistics we mentioned at the beginning of this article, most organizations should have both a mobile site AND an app, to meet their maximum web potential. But if the budget won’t support both, or an app simply isn’t necessary (yet,) a mobile site should definitely be the next step.

Our team here at Speak Creative is ready to help you with your mobile transition, or just answer your questions. Let us know how we can help you adapt to your fastest growing audience!

Connect with us.

-Stacie Martin, (new) Marketing Coordinator

Web designer? HTML+CSS skills? Bring your talents to Speak Creative. 

We're an established company (founded in 1999) of 14 employees. We work with some of the best organizations in Memphis and all over the country. We do pretty much all things interactive from website design and development to mobile apps and consulting. 

We're on the hunt for SEVERAL talented designers/front-end developers to come be a part of our team.? Candidates must have solid design chops. We won't peg a certain number of years experience because talent is talent. However, if you're not confident that you've got game, don't apply.

Another important note: we want team players not rock stars. If you want to be a part of a team and make great things happen, this is the place for you. If you want your name in lights –move on.

Finally, we aren't opposed to telecommuters, however, it's not our first choice. 

If you think you'd be a good fit for our shop, apply here and if we agree, we'll setup an interview. We're looking to hire immediately.

If you have lived, worked or even simply visited downtown Memphis, you have seen One Commerce Square. With an unparalleled renovation recently completed, the building is the self-proclaimed once and future king of Memphis' business addresses. As such, it needed its own space on the web.

Commercial Advisors turned to us to create a unique, socially-driven website for the all-new One Commerce Square. While several features will be added to the website over time, the initial launch captures the crux of One's message - it is a definitive landmark in the soul of Memphis.

As is immediately apparent, the website uses photography as a focal point of the design. Fixed-position navigation is used to keep the logo and navigation options in front of the website visitor even as they scroll through information. The home page takes advantage of two Twitter feeds. The first is a feed directly from @OneCommerceSquare while the other is a feed from @DowntownMemphis - an organization that, as you might imagine, supports the continued development and progress of downtown Memphis.

This connection, along with the messaging and photography of the One Commerce Square website, reinforces the nature of One Commerce Square - it is an integral part of the heart of Memphis. With Memphis landmarks like the Peabody Hotel, Beale Street, FedEx Forum, Autozone Park as well as many others within walking distance of the building, One Commerce Square stands apart as the premier office destination in downtown Memphis.

AND we're back! There was quite a long lay-off of content here on the blog for a while. Apologies all around. We've been quite busy (you should be seeing quite a few updates with completed projects in this space soon), and we're re-thinking our approach to the blog a little bit. We're still squeezing the juice from our mind grapes about the format of the blog (who doesn't love a 30 Rock reference?), but essentially you'll be seeing more regular posts from us on practical subjects that we seem to get a lot of questions about. Of course, if you have something you'd like us to talk about – leave a comment! We'll be happy to.

Today's topic might be an eye-roller for some of you. Trust me, if you're a long-time Twitterphile, today's advice will probably be old-hat. However, we get a surprising number of clients ask us about what they should be doing on Twitter (or with social media in general), so Megan Denney and I put together a simple list of questions to consider before jumping in feet-first on Twitter. Any thoughts or comments? Did we miss something? Let us know!

1. What are your competitors doing on Twitter?

You don't have to spend a lot of time poring over your competition's every tweet and reply, but you should try to get a sense of the voices that are already out in the Twitterverse. Looking at your competition can give you good pointers on topics you could be talking about, or you might see a gap where your expertise in the market hasn't really been adequately communicated.

You might be in a market where very few of your competitors are on Twitter, and you might wonder (rightly!) if you should even be using Twitter. Take plumbers for example. It's pretty weird to tell a plumber he or she should be on Twitter. The inevitable "what am I going to tweet about?" question comes up (see #3 below). It's a totally legitimate question to ask. You'll just have to keep reading to find the answer...

2. Who's the Chief Twit (Twitterer? Tweeter?)

We struggled with the nomenclature for the person primarily responsible for tweeting. Regardless of the title, you should consider who that person will be. One of the most common things I hear is "we've got a group of folks who are going to tweet whenever they have time." WRONG. You know who ends up tweeting in that scenario? No one. Tweeting is not a highly time-consuming activity, but it does require folks to go outside of their normal workflow. By all means, let as many folks tweet from your account as you'd like, but be sure you have someone who is responsible for the day-to-day content. You're much more likely to produce consistent, personality-laden content when you have someone who has taken over the role of Chief Twit.

3. What will you tweet about?

The answer is different for everyone when considering this question, but the point is that you better have a gameplan for how you are going to interact with your followers. You might tweet about your daily specials. You might tweet about products you're producing. Whatever it is that you'll primarily be talking about, take the time to think it out beforehand. You don't have to plan every tweet, but you should have a general idea of some of the things you can say from one day to the next.

This is where we pick back up with our plumber. He has no idea what he should tweet about. Here's what I might suggest – take pictures... lots of gross clogged-drain, flooded basement, burst-pipe pictures. "You'll never believe what I just found in this drain! [Picture]" That's the kind of content that gets responses from followers (especially if he follows the tweet up with an immaculately clean "after" shot). Sure, it's not for everyone, but he'll get retweeted and recommended by the folks that do follow him. People on Twitter tend to love personality and humor. Keep that in mind.

4. Can you commit to tweeting at least once a day?

This is a question where you just have to be honest with yourself. Can you commit to tweeting on a regular basis? There's nothing magical about the once a day number. In fact, I would say it's the bare minimum – you'll hopefully be tweeting more regularly than once a day. Tweeting isn't hard to do, but it can be hard to make yourself take the time to do it. If you are over-committed in other areas of work and won't be able to pay attention, why add needless stress? Yes, you could probably benefit from being on Twitter, but it's better to just leave it alone for a while than sully your brand with half-hearted efforts at maintaining your presence on Twitter.

5. What is your plan for responding to tweets?

This is the bottom line of any social media – it's meant to be social. You can use social media as your sandwich board, but it's so much more than that. If you are posting interesting content, you'll inevitably begin to acquire followers (don't be stressed if this starts off as a trickle rather than a flood). Once you get a critical mass of followers, you're likely to have folks who want to start conversations with you. They have questions or ideas. Will you respond? Twitter is now equipped with email notifications, so you don't have any excuse for not seeing conversations as they happen. Be ready for it! I try to make a habit of responding as quickly as possible on Twitter (usually 15 minutes or less). Engage with your audience! It's the ultimate goal of social media and is the fastest way to build up your brand in the eyes of your followers.

If you follow our Twitter account (@speakcreative) - there's really no reason why you shouldn't - you know that we celebrated our first ever monthly "Breakfast Launcheon" last week. It's a monthly celebration here at Speak HQ in honor of all of the websites that launched that month. We have Andie Ray, the newest member of the Speak team, to thank for the wonderfully witty name. Anyway.. we tweeted the website launches that we were celebrating, and it made me realize that I'm woefully behind on the blog!

One of the websites we announced was the completely redesigned FedEx St. Jude Classic tournament site. Of course, everyone who works, lives or plays in Memphis knows about the tournament, and we were pumped when they approached us early this year to begin planning their website overhaul. For the past few years, SJC has had a presenting partner, but FedEx came on board this year as a title sponsor for the tournament. With a new sponsor and lots of ideas, we were excited to get to work.

Of course, it was a requirement of the redesign to work within the FedEx brand standards, so we worked closely with their brand team to make sure that the website would serve all of the needs of SJC while also enhancing the overall presentation of the FedEx brand within the website. This year, the website features a panoramic photo display that looks great on high-resolution, widescreen monitors (and lower res displays!). We also created a countdown timer, so you can know exactly how long until the first tee off (who doesn't love a countdown?). In addition to these elements, we played up SJC's social media presence on Twitter with a feed implementation and custom Twitter background and created several different content blocks within the website home page that will change as the tournament tees off. For example, for the next month or so, the 2010 Tournament Photos will remain in place. As the tournament draws closer, this area will change to feature golfers that have committed to playing in the tournament. Finally, during the event itself, this area will turn into a virtual leaderboard!

Another area that we are developing even more fully than last year is the mobile website. Last year, we had to play it safe with a mobile website design because the PGA actually outlawed cell phone use from spectators. This meant that we couldn't go full-bore into designing a mobile implementation that actually catered to spectators on the course. This year, however, the PGA has rescinded its rule on cell phone use, so we've put together a mobile implementation that will be an incredibly valuable asset to those attending and planning to attend the tournament this year.

We've got even more that we're working on with SJC right now, but we'll have to keep it under wraps til later. In the meantime, by all means, take a look at the new site and don't be afraid to let us know what you think!

---

FedEx St. Jude Classic

I'm a bit of a Twitter-holic. The micro-blogging platform appeals to me in a very personal way. Content delivery is quick, and the folks I follow are a good mix of experts in the different arenas I'm interested in. One of those topics? Fütbol (I try to use the umlaut wherever possible). I know - this isn't really a place for you to come and get your sports updates, but I think Nike executed a textbook social media campaign that is worth highlighting. Just a warning, I'll get into quite a bit of background related to the issues at play, but I hope I communicate it in an approachable way.

Last week, the Nike Soccer team built a lot of buzz over the #RedAllOver campaign through their Twitter account. The campaign coincided with two major events:

1. USA v Argentina - This international friendly took place in New Meadowlands Stadium (home of the Jets and Giants) in New Jersey this past Saturday. If you don't already know, Argentina's national team is home to the sport's most electric player right now, Lionel Messi, and it was a chance for the US to test themselves against one of the best squads in the world (and get Messi, also a Nike athlete, some exposure in the growing US soccer market). Side note: after looking completely out of sorts and falling behind in the first half, the US amazingly pulled off a 1-1 draw with Argentina.

2. USA's new kit - Nike designed a completely new kit for the US to unveil against Argentina. The most obvious part of the new kit? An all new red jersey (hence Nike's #RedAllOver campaign). The US has traditionally had two kits: white (for home games) and blue (for away games). Nike is pitching the new red kit as being crowd-driven by requests through social media.

Here's where the Nike social media team kicked it into overdrive and in the matter of a week created a behemoth of a social media campaign. It all started a week ago when the new kit was hinted at via Twitter:

They announced the new shirt (without unveiling it yet - brilliant) and engaged followers in a crowdsourcing project - write the motto that would be embroidered on the shirt for the Argentina match.

Quick History Lesson

This is where we have to spend a minute or two exploring some perceptions of the US soccer team before we can get to the execution of the campaign itself. The brilliance of Nike's idea came in capitalizing on a deep-seated "soul" issue that the US soccer team has faced for years.

In short, the perception is that the US' team doesn't have much soul. Soccer is a second class citizen in the world of US sports (even though youth soccer continues to be a staple). Here's a quick example: soccer crazy countries have long had popular monikers for their national squads: France (Les Bleus), Brazil (A Seleçào), England (Three Lions).

Alternatively, the US' team name is the U.S. Men's National Team. Over the years, fans have tried to punch things up. "Yanks" is a pretty popular name that gets tossed around, as is "Stars and Stripes." The problem is none of these have stuck, probably because they don't feel like anything more than a skin-deep attempt at patriotism.

However, if you have watched the US play in the past several years, you know the "no soul" knock is completely unfounded. It's a fiery team with grit that came this close to knocking off mighty Brazil in the Confederations Cup finals in 2009. Last year's World Cup run in South Africa was marked by explosive plays, passionate leadership and last second comebacks that had fans believing that the gap between US soccer and the rest of the world was closing.

The Brilliance of #RedAllOver

Ok... back to the #RedAllOver campaign - Nike's call to write a motto that would become a semi-official slogan of the team was not simply a cool giveaway but a chance for fans to inject passion and heart into a team that could benefit from a more recognizable identity. Nike leveraged the mechanics of Twitter by mandating that all motto submissions be sent with the hashtag #RedAllOver. Within hours, the campaign was a trending topic. It's important to note that a topic trends much faster if it is focused around a particular hashtag (and if you have the follower base that Nike has!).

In order to maintain the momentum of the campaign, Nike scheduled events leading up to the match with Argentina. They setup a #RedAllOver photo booth in Times Square where supporters could have their picture taken with some US soccer swag and easily tweet the photos (with the #RedAllOver hashtag, of course). Several days after the initial announcement, the jersey itself was actually revealed (by the way, Nike has some of the best product photos of any retailer I've seen), and on the day before the match, Nike teamed up with US Soccer and announced via Twitter that they were giving away one of the new red jerseys to the first person who could find Jay DeMerit (Defender) in Times Square. This led to a flurry of comical tweets from folks either looking for DeMerit or who wanted buddies in New York to find him for them. Of course, every single one of these tweets was tagged with #RedAllOver. The end result was a campaign that trended consistently over the course of a week - a veritable social media miracle.

Over the course of a week, Nike executed a flawless social media campaign that culminated in the unveiling of the official motto for the game: INDIVISIBLE. It was a brilliant selection because it touches on the patriotism that is constantly being associated with the team, but more than that, it captures the spirit of the team itself. They may not be the they most talented, but they play with a sense of purpose and camaraderie that lets them compete at the highest level.

Indivisible Announcement

The Takeaway

I think a lot of times we get caught in the mindset of, well of course they did a good job, it's Nike (or Apple or whoever). The truth is good marketing is good marketing, and while we may not be able to put together a campaign on the scale of #RedAllOver, we can certainly learn some good pointers from it.

So... what can we take away from #RedAllOver about how to run our own successful social media campaign?

1. Address a felt need of your community - Nike created a massive revenue stream by producing a jersey that fans felt needed to exist.
2. Engage your community in a conversation - Nike asked its community to develop the motto as part of the product they would be purchasing. The engagement was built around an area that's perceived as a weakness of the team (its "soul"), so fans quickly got on board. In addition, it gave real-time feedback to fans who were making submissions.
3. Leverage the mechanics of Twitter - Nike provided a central point of focus for the campaign through the use of the #RedAllOver hashtag. Smaller organizations can benefit from hashtags as well because anytime one of your followers uses the hashtag, his or her followers become exposed to your campaign as well.
4. Sustain your efforts - Nike planned out its communication schedule throughout the week, so it did not depend on a single announcement to carry the campaign through the week. It created a few pieces of media that trickled out through the week (product photos and the above video) to maintain interest as well.
5. Undersell your product/Service - Nike provided links to find the jerseys online and in person, but only once or twice did they do it without being asked. The point is that the whole campaign is built around the excitement and vibe of the new shirt, if Nike had posted links every hour or two about where to buy the new shirt, it would have killed the momentum that the campaign was gaining. I'm not going to buy a product because someone tells me to every few hours. I'm going to buy a product that I'm excited about. That's what the #RedAllOver campaign was all about.
6. Plan your campaign - This probably goes without saying, but I'll just reiterate it as the last point. It's all well and good to wing it with social media, but if you want to have a truly successful presence that creates momentum for your business, it's worth putting some time and effort into planning your communication. Just ask Nike.