You’ve got to start somewhere, although you realize that more roads lead to Rome. We can honestly say that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach towards the implementation of new media. But the least we can do is to structure our trip a bit. Understanding the problem, knowing your audience, creatively thinking about solutions and rapid prototyping. Or just have a chat with us to discuss the latest and the greatest in tech.
The bigger picture
Some people come to us and ask to implement a Twitter channel, or a mobile app. For sure Twitter can have a added value in your business. And your own app is absolutely cool. But what’s the idea behind it? What would you like to achieve? Is your organization ready to embrace social media, in case of Twitter. Or does your IT department know that you secretly bought a few iPads for your sales force? And if so, how will you deal with the compliance, ownership of the data and all those other perky organizational thresholds?
Get some structure
We are a big believer in a structural approach towards change. It’s not that we don’t believe in ad hoc projects or grassroots initiatives, but most of the time people like to have a broader picture. Especially with projects where more stakeholders are involved.
Smart people have drafted smart models that will enable you to follow a certain process when implementing new technologies. Since we are no less smarter, at least we think we aren’t, we have created our own little process, called LIPTALC. Inspired by experience, created with thought.
The LIPTALC explained
We start off with understanding the current situation. We don’t like to drive blindfolded. We might do a QuickScan or an awareness session, depending on your wishes. It could well be that we find out that your target audience is not yet ready for the things you want, so we stop here. But, more often we get a clear insight and start with the second phase: developing the tools. Whether that is an internal online community, a web video series or a mobile app. It all depends what fits best to your ideas and your audience. Nothing goes without a plan, so we determine in this stage what we would like to achieve in the end. And then we try it out. Are we on the right track?
Once successful we lift the project up to get serious. We might adapt here and there, but now the tools should be ready for prime time. Good preparation is half the work, but it is no guarantee for success. New media is too.. uhm.. new for that. Of course we want to check if we’ve met our initial goals, so together with you we do several checks. We might have to adapt. Or just sit and enjoy the success.
How does that work in the real world?
You might think that this is quite a drastic approach to start with new media. Although it may seem a lot of work, in practice you can make it as big or as small as you can. With some of our customers we went through the first phase in a couple of hours since they already had a clear understanding of their audience and their own strategy. For some companies that took a bit longer.
What we want to make clear is that too often we see new technologies being implemented without a certain plan or vision. Or no proper training for the employees. Why start with social media if your IT prohibits the use of Facebook or Youtube on your own computers? Think about these things first. It’s a pity if initiatives fail because no one thought it out. And then it’s not the technology to blame.
We can help going through this creative and iterative process. We’ve been there before and we are pretty dedicated to make things happen. After all, we like to see the cool stuff being actually used, too.