GovCollab and Potomac Forum had a Gov Goes Mobile workshop on December 10, 2010 to help demystify using mobile to engage the public and internal audiences to more toward a more Open Government. We had in one room, some of the top innovators in mobile in Government in the country. I would like to thank all of speakers expecially Michael Becker and David Asheim who traveled across the country to speak at our first Gov Goes Mobile Event.
Government Guest Speakers:
- Dalroy Ward, Chief, Information Serivces Branch, Information Access Division (IAD), Office of Environmental Information, EPA
- Jeremy Vanderlan Web Developer for AIDS.gov, HHS
- Cari A. Wolfson, President, Focus on U! and Social Media Strategist at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Industry Experts:
- Michael Becker, VP Mobile Strategies, iLoop Mobile and North American Vice Chairperson., Mobile Marketing Association Global
- David Asheim, CEO and Founder, Guide by Cell Inc.
- Kevin Bertram, President, Distributive Networks.
The first thing which was made clear by several speakers is that mobile is not a device but a platform with at least 8 different media channels:
- SMS Short Message Service or the common text message.
- MMS Multi-Media Message Service for sending pictures and video.
- IVR Interactive Voice Response services which are becoming easier and cheaper to implment.
- Content Channel. Streaming video and audio.
- Mobile Web. Small versions of websites which are more readable on a small screen.
- Bluetooth. Not to be overlooked. This is starting to be used for customer tracking as well as within store interactions such as coupons.
- Applications. The App made famous by the I-Phone.
Take Homes from our workshop:
- A mobile campaign which is not integrated into a marketing or service delivery plan will not work. You must start with your marketing or outreach plan and not with the need to be “Go Mobile”.
- Not for all things and all audiences, but also not just for the kids. (Physicians for instance prefer mobile to web for some information delivery).
- While watching TV, listening to the radio or using the computer about 1/3 of your audience text messages, so integration of mobile can produce responses to PSA campaigns.
- Know the details of your vendor’s experience in all aspects of mobile campaign planning, implementation and management.
- Consider the location someone will be in and what information is relevant in that context.
- Find a short memorable code which is available and secure it. Be careful with shared short codes. (Find out who you are sharing with).
- For Mobile Versions of websites, create prototypes and try them out. But also look for successful models (The BBC mobile site was mentioned).
- Include a technologist in the planning team from the start.
- Think out of box for uses of mobile. For instance some organizations are starting to integrate mobile platforms into training programs and other types of internal communication (think alerts!).
- Know your audience and how they use mobile!
- Adults and teens share the same passion about their phone. It’s an audience thing not a youth thing.
- For emergency alerts, check the recent guidelines announced by FEMA and the FCC.
- Use scripts to automatically redirect mobile users to your mobile site.
- If you are going to plan mobile projects, join the mobile marketing association and become familiar with their resources.
- Repurpose your content to mobile but make sure, it is mobile-friendly content (highly sought after and concise, relevant to the location of your audience.)
- Integrate mobile messaging into your overall content management and governance structure.
- Collect and distribute statistics on your progress regularly. Learn from these stats.
- Target mobile content to subdivisions of your audience.
- Plan for multiple languages at the beginning due to differences in mobile delivery systems.
- Make sure any information which could be considered private such as phone numbers and GPS is secure and used in accordance with your stated privacy policy.
The best visual: Out of the hundreds of visuals presented, I thought this was most provactive showing how audiences respond differently in frequency and retention based on the category of application: (Originally from the Flurry Blog)
Shows how audience response to mobile differs in frequency and retention by application category.
Case Studies Discussed: (A lot of planned apps were discussed as well but here are a few which are already up and which we dove into)
Smart Phone App and Mobile Web:
- EPA’s UV Index for mobile phones.
- CDC’s Mobile Web site (both iPhone and standard versions)
Text/SMS:
- AIDS.gov KNOWIT campaign: You can text your zip code to KNOWIT (566948) to find the neearest AIDS testing facility. Mobile is one of the best ways to deliver informaiton to populations most affected by AIDS and is a great example of how mobile can bridge the digital divide. But also they are finding that physicians prefer mobile delivery of information over a standard web browser. A case in point for the idea that mobile use for informaiton bridges generation, as well as other demographic boundaries.
- IRS’ mobile “What’s your best free” campaign to promote the Free File Program.
- National Mobile Alerts System
- CDC’s H1N1 text pilot and other text campaigns
IVR/Voice:
Smithsonian’s and National Parks Guide by Cell implementations.
First some quick facts
Number of mobile subscribers Worldwide 4.1 billion.
Percent of the North American Population reachable by mobile: 73%
Number of text messages sent per day in the US: 1.4 billion.
Daily Number of US text messages to voice minutes 584 msgs to 200 minutes.
Americans with mobile phones: 221 million
Number who access
Text: 132 million
MMS: 68 million
Internet: 55 million
Audio: 39 million
Apps: 27 million
Games: 23 million
Video: 15 million
Most Popular phone among Hispanics: I-Phone
among African Americans: Motorola Razor
Adoption across generations is higher than you think:
For user 55+ 30% use SMS and 8% use Internet
Use varies by phone type.
I-Phones have much higher video and app use than other smart phones as well all other phones.
Mobile is not just about phones: S
The first thing which was made clear by several speakers is that mobile is a platform not a device with at 8 different channels
SMS Short Message Service or the common text message.
MMS Multi-Media Message Service for sending pictures and video.
Email
IVR Interactive Voice Response services which are becoming easier and cheaper to implment.
Content Channel. Streaming video and audio.
Mobile Web. Small versions of websites which are more readable on a small screen.
Bluetooth. Not to be overlooked. This is starting to be used for customer tracking as well as within store interactions such as coupons.
Applications. The App made famous by the I-Phone.
Take Homes:
Michael Becker of iLoop was first to present. The take home was that a mobile campaign which is not integrated into a marketing or service delivery plan will not work. You must start with your marketing or outreach plan and not with the need to be “Go Mobile”.
Mike cited as a campaign to look at, the IRS’ mobilr vcam
Next Jeremy Vanderlan, Technical Lead/Web Developer, AIDS.gov talked about where they have been and where they are going with AIDS.gov. Currently, you can text your zip code to KNOWIT (566948) to find the neearest AIDS testing facility. One of the more important aspects of this campaign was finding a memorable short code which was not already taken.
Mobile is one of the best ways to deliver informaiton to populations most affected by AIDS and is a great example of how mobile can bridge the digital divide.
But also they are finding that physicians prefer mobile delivery of information over a standard web browser. A case in point for the idea that mobile use for informaiton bridges generation, as well as other demographic boundaries.
Jeremy is now developing a mobile site and his model for his mobile is the BBC mobile website.
Jeremy’s take-home for government organizations adopting mobile is to include a technologist in all facits of the planning of the campaign.
David Ascheim’s starting slide was “summarizing mobile is like trying to summarize the web. David has not only pioneered the use of mobile in places like museums but also is creating innovative ways to integrate mobile into employee training within organizations.
I would like to thank all of speakers expecially Michael Becker and David ASheim
who traveled across the country to speak at our first Gov Goes Mobile Event.
Some quick usage stats for mobile:
- Number of mobile subscribers Worldwide 4.1 billion.
- Nielsen predicts 50% of US mobile phones could be smartphones by 2011
- Percent of the North American Population reachable by mobile: 73%
- Number of text messages sent per day in the US: 1.4 billion.
- Average Number of Monthly US text messages to voice calls 357 msgs to 204 calls.
- Americans with mobile phones: 221 million
- Number of Americans who access each type of mobile data service:
Text/SMS: 132 million
MMS: 68 million
Internet: 55 million
Audio: 39 million
Apps: 27 million
Games: 23 million
Video: 15 million
- Most Popular phone among Hispanics: I-Phone
- Most Popular phone among African Americans: Motorola Razor
- Adoption across generations is higher than you think:
For users 55+ 30% use SMS and 8% use Internet
Stay tuned for more workshops like this one worked toward a more effective and
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