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- The Viral Series III: The GUI (Graphic User Interface)
- The Viral Series II: The importance of branding in viral marketing
- The Viral Series I: The Ideal Target Audience
- The Viral Series
- Global Branding and Ries’ 22 Immutable Rules
- More Recent Articles
- Search International Communications
When developing a viral app, bear in mind that the Graphic User Interface (or GUI) is as important as the app’s name or logo because ultimately it is an essential part of the user experience itself.
The principle behind a viral app is that the user can share it with his friends once he likes it. Likewise his friends will also be able to spread the app further to their own peers, hence the expression “viral”.
However a user will only "disseminate" an app if he enjoys it, in other words, if the user experience is pleasant. Here are a few tips to win the hearts and souls of your users:
1- The GUI must be friendly, easy-to-use and intuitive
2- Its graphic motif must appeal to the target audience
3- The Millennium generation demands a fresh, more edgy, web 2.0 look’n’feel
4- The GUI must include sharing, tell-a-friend and add-a-friend features
The image above shows Odigo, an IM developed in the 90s, when ICQ was a leader and much before Microsoft had its Windows Live Messenger.
Odigo's GUI was created based on the idea of a handheld such as a Palm or a Blackberry. It included radar where you could see who was online, interest-based filters and user ID cards with avatars besides other interesting features, including a rudimentary "tell-a-friend".
If you are unacquainted to the subject and would like to understand what GUIs are, click here for a thorough explanation. If you are developing or would like to enhance a viral app, as always I suggest hiring a Marketing/ Communications expert.
If you have comments, click on the link below to share your opinion. In order to contact me, please feel free to e-mail me at kgoldrajch@gmail.com.
Here are some of the most popular viral services:
MySpace - FaceBook - YouTube - Bebo - LinkedIn
Notice that these brands all share branding communalities:
1- Small names (1, 2 syllables), easy to remember
2- You can use them as verbs (i.e, “Vivian YouTubed her birthday party”; “I am Linked-In to Jack”, etc.)
3-When you think of their names, you can picture their logos in your head
4- These brands fulfill the promises in their names:
--> MySpace is a space I can customize because it is “mine” and as the name says, it is "my space"
--> YouTube grants you the ability to “tube” what you want, to “televise” , to “broadcast” and also to create your own “channels”
--> FaceBook was originally created for college kids
--> LinkedIn connects you to your professional network
So when you create your own service or app, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, research previous success and failure stories and adapt the lessons you have learned to your branding promises.
I always suggest also hiring a communications expert. There are excellent agencies out there that are specialized only on branding.
Global branding
Be aware that what may work in one side of the planet, may not in the other. Orkut is an excellent example: it reached critical mass in Brazil but it does not appeal to users in other countries. Therefore, when creating an international brand, keep in mind to hire an international communications professional as well.
Let me first describe what is not considered a good target audience for a viral service such as a social network: Think of an online community for women, aged 18 to 55. Why is it not good? I will give you 3 reasons:
1- The more you define and limit your niche, the easier you will be able to address their needs and come up with a differentiated and relevant service. An example? LinkedIn: a social network for professionals. Another one? InMobile.org: a social network for mobile executives. If you are trying to please all demographics at once, you will end up not pleasing any of them and having an obsolete service.
2- The principle of targeted ads is defeated in the example above. If you put yourself in the shoes of the advertisers, wouldn’t you rather have more information about your target audience instead of shooting aimlessly to all directions?
3- The Millennium Generation is the target audience that has been the early adopter of social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, etc. The mobile phone and the internet are an intrinsic part of their social life. But beware, the Millennium Generation is also the toughest audience to please and we will analyze this later, when we talk about technology, GUI and branding.
So what we see in the first place is that segmentation is key. In other words, you need to have a well defined target audience and your service must be honestly relevant for them.
Would you like to add anything to this list and share your opinion? Feel free to click on the comments link and voice your thoughts!
I have been working with viral based communities, online and mobile applications since the 90s and viral marketing is definitely one of the areas that I feel definitely very passionate for.
One of the most frequent questions that I get regards to reaching a critical mass when providing a service or application which is dependable on user adoption.
In plain words, how can you develop a website or a service (like YouTube or FaceBook), spread the word, and get a huge amount of users when offering a service?
It takes a seasoned marketing professional to do the job and I decided to share some ideas in this blog. Since it is a broad subject, I will write a series of posts on viral marketing.
Here are the items that I will be talking about in the next posts:
1- The ideal target audience and the millennium generation
2- The importance of branding in viral marketing
3- The interface (also called GUI and UI). GUI stands for Graphic user interface and UI for User Interface.
4- Personalization
5- Peer and interest groups
6- Must-have features
7- Number of clicks
8- Internet, cell phones and convergence
9- Virtual popularity
10- Unique user X Registered user
Please feel free to contact me and suggest other topics that you would like me to comment on.
And before I forget: If you wish to contact me for consulting purposes or speaking engagements, please feel free to write to kgoldrajch@gmail.com.
Also, if you wish you share your opinion with me and our readers, you can do so by clicking on the comments link and voicing your thoughts.
I am often hired as a consultant to companies that need to create and implement global branding strategies to increase their presence as well as expand their market share. These are different challenges, but most of the times, they come together with a very similar set of questions. Most companies are looking for a cost effective formula to launch products and services and acquire a loyal user base that grows exponentially (virally).
Let’s face it: Branding is crucial. If you are looking for basic branding rules, I suggest reading Al Ries’ 22 immutable Laws of Branding. When working with global branding, remember to prioritize your demographics and adapt the rules regionally, without losing the brand identity.
Here is one excellent example: In order to expand to Israel, McDonald's needed respect the local culture and as a result modify some of its key characteristics (such as menu items) without losing its brand consistency. Besides changing its menu to offer 100% kosher beef and non-dairy products (including no cheeseburgers), they decided to also close on Saturdays and religious holidays. In addition to that, their commitment to give back to the local communities is kept as they donate hundreds of thousands of NIS to charities which benefit children such as The Shnider Hospital for Children; Make a Wish Association; The Fighting Cancer Association, and etc.
If you wish to learn more about global branding, please click here to read a previous post.
To share your opinion with me and International Communications’ readers, please click on the comments link.
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