The Blog

New Space. New Instagrams...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

"We have been settling into our new (temporary) office located in the heart of Chicago's ‘River North’ neighborhood the few past weeks. And I must say, it's looking pretty good. Along with a new energy and a stronger sense of community the new space has also inspired us to up our Instagram game… let the fun/blackmailing begin!"

'River North'-

"The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district (the Loop). To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago, North Avenue."

Thank Wiki ;)

#PTplaylist

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:26:00 GMT

One of the many things we really value at Plum Tree is our people and the culture we create. We are a family of extremely talented, funny, and interesting people, and I truly believe that comes off in the work that we do for our clients. However recently I had an idea to start something called #PTplaylist that I hoped would help highlight these many diverse Plum Tree personalities and tastes in a creative way.

#PTplaylist is exactly what it sounds like – it's a playlist of music curated by everyone at Plum Tree that we “publish” once or twice a month. I realized I was curious about what people had playing in their headphones during the work day, and soon I started thinking, 'Wouldn't other people be curious about that, too? Maybe even people outside of Plum Tree?' So I decided to send an email out and gauge people's interest. Long email thread short – the idea stuck and people got excited about it. I decided to use a music website called 8tracks to curate all of the songs and I worked with our marketing designer Lindsey to create album art for the playlist.

#PTplaylist Volume 2 from Plum Tree Group on 8tracks Radio.

It was really cool seeing everyone at Plum Tree come together around music and their tastes. But the end result wasn't just a playlist – it has been something that starts conversations and brings new energy to the office, something that reinforces the awesome culture at Plum Tree. We're definitely looking forward to sharing future playlists with you.

-Dave Hennessy, Social Media Specialist/Artist

(#nowplaying Justin Timberlake “Mirrors”)

Meet eIntelli

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:15:00 GMT

eIntelli is a suite of online applications that is designed to help your business grow. Very much like a virtual Sales/Marketing/IT team, their flagship product, eProposal, a proposal writing software- allows you to quickly and efficiently create business proposals online.

eProposal has many unique features which make it an outstanding product. eProposal is beneficial in many ways. One, it saves a lot of time. As we all know how essential time is, eProposal does just that by offering commonly used templates or previous proposal types- making it easier and ultimately saving you time.

Furthermore, eProposal increases sales conversion. A targeted professional and online proposal stands out from the competition. Not only that, but eProposal is genuinely intelligent. With key features such as receiving immediate client feedback and other statistics indicating how long your prospects spent on your proposal!

eIntelli is continuing on working on great new applications that will further expand the possibilities for all types of businesses. Some projects that eIntelli is currently working and developing on include, eSurvey- an easy to use survey tool that focuses on data presentation; and eStudio, which helps you create your eCommerce site to a neat Web 2.0 experience.

Moreover, eIntelli’s main goal is to assist you in making your business grow by providing simple and clean, easy-to-use online solutions to further enhance and develop any emerging business.

iPhone 5

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:12:00 GMT

A new year, a new iPhone. In case you’ve been living under a rock or simply unaware of tech releases, the iPhone 5 is without a doubt, arguably, the most eagerly anticipated consumer gadget of the year. With the release date coming up just around the corner on the 21st of September; the slimmer, lighter, and longer new iPhone is expected to break record sales already and many analysts believe that as many as 58 million units may be sold by the end of the year.

After nearly two years of being in the process of a complete redesign of the previous iPhone; the Cupertino based technology giant has unveiled its thinner and lighter form factor, which carries a 4 inch retina display, faster A6 processor, and LTE support for speedy network speeds- all on the newly polished operating system, iOS 6. And with all of Apple’s faithful followers all eager to purchase “the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone”, Apple’s unique marketing strategy still remains as a decisive selling point for the most valuable company in the world.

But lets take a quick flashback for a bit. The iconic iPhone, which made its debut in 2007, made a major breakthrough in the mobile industry. This marked the start of a new smartphone industry that is worth a massive $219 billion dollars today. More important, is the significance of the iPhone to Apple’s profit. Over the past six years, Apple’s iPhone has accounted for more than half of Apple’s overall revenue. The iPhone is so important to Apple that its financial and stock performances over the next years will be highly correlated to iPhone sales. The iPhone remains as a pivotal product for the massive company, so much so, that it might as well be called “the iPhone” company.

However, things remain different today with the ongoing growth of competition within the mobile world arena. Unlike in 2007, Apple is facing competition more than ever from its primary rival Android, which recently captured the throne of holding the majority market share of the American smartphone market. This has in turn stirred the recent debates on countless of Apple vs. Android topics which seem to have no end. However, in the end whatever the outcome may be, we, the consumers ultimately hold the winning edge on this game, because competition encourages innovation and pushes Apple and Android device manufacturers to constantly provide new additions to the playing field.

So what are your thoughts on the iPhone 5? Does it manifest Apple's revolutionary pedigree? Will it satisfy your demands? Do you think Apple is or has become the reigning king in smartphones? Or is it simply just right? With so many questions and answers that pertain to both sides of the spectrum, one thing is for sure and that is that Apple never fails to surprise its followers and the massive global consumer electronics market that we live in today's digital world.

Foodies, Rejoice!

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:42:00 GMT

Looking for that table for two? OpenTable, an online real-time restaurant reservation service, seats 9 millions diners a month at no cost to over 25,000 restaurants nationwide and in several major international cities. Reservations can be easily made through its website or smartphone application.

Similar to other restaurant reviewing services, OpenTable features different city categories which enables users to see the top or most visited restaurants within any metropolitan area. From weekday lunches to Michelin star awarded restaurants, OpenTable’s online booking service makes it fast and efficient for users to find available tables that meet the desired criteria for cuisine, price, and location at any given time.

Once users confirm to make a reservation, they can be qualified to receive OpenTable reward points that can later be redeemed for discounts at member restaurants. This provides the extra incentive for customers to fully experience this solid service.

But it doesn’t just end there. This nifty service isn’t only a great tool to make reservations, but it has expanded to become a great resource for collecting and reading restaurant reviews. So good that in the past four months, its top four most-reviewed restaurants has collected 6,307 reviews, in comparison to Yelp’s 4,001 reviews for the same exact restaurants. So whether you’re making a reservation or simply just browsing to find reviews for that next restaurant, OpenTable can be the solution for you.

So what makes this service unique compared to its restaurant reviewing competitors such as Yelp and Zagat? OpenTable users receive an email survey from the service after they have been confirmed to have visited a particular restaurant. This process has enabled OpenTable to collect higher quality reviews because the users must be eligible to review, unlike its competitors, where virtually anyone can post- which tends to lead to countless of spam reviews. More importantly, this unique way of reviewing restaurants has led to very specific reviews that describe the exact time frame of ones visit. Because restaurants constantly change chefs, menus, and even ingredients; many reviews can ensure exactly what a restaurant contains at a given time.

OpenTable’s success in providing optimal reservations and reviews has enabled them to collect over 450,000 reviews a month. Ultimately, what can be learned from OpenTable’s full palate is that social engagement remains as a vital tool for success. In turn, this unique and successful process has allowed them to reveal their hidden gems of countless substantial restaurant reviews while providing the optimal experience for all types of restaurant-goers.

On The Go

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:06:00 GMT

Thinking of finding the perfect weekend getaway? From igloos to Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses, Airbnb; a trusted community marketplace, allows people to list, discover, and book virtually any form of accommodation around the world through the internet and on any smartphone. This thriving social networking service and application provides millions of people with exclusive unforgettable travel experiences through its vast growing community of users.

Additionally, by having a history of over 10 million nights booked in 192 countries, Airbnb continues to be the epitome within the social networking sphere of the travel industry. This unique form of hospitality exchange service has changed the outlook on how social networking and mobile technology are becoming key players in changing and expanding travel.

Another form of social media that complements travel is an application called Tagwhat, which holds the tagline,“your mobile tour guide for the world”. This neat yet in-depth tour guide draws upon the endless amount of content inside the web and various social networks to create the ultimate tour guide. By using your location and point of interests, this creative mobile tour guide creates a knowledgeable road map that is constantly updated to enhance your experience and destination.

Ultimately, mobile technology is changing the way we travel, interact, and make consumer choices.

A recent study by Expedia, the Internet-based travel website, revealed some fascinating statistics which demonstrates how consumers fully take advantage of the “on-the-go” lifestyle through last minute and spontaneous consumer decisions. According to Expedia, More than 65% of people who book a hotel room within 24 hours of checking in do so from a mobile device.

“Mobile booking helps take the stress out of travel planning... It helps everyone from the time-pressed road warrior to the globetrotting tourist reserve top-notch flights and accommodations as easily as possible”.

In this day and age, being able to reserve anything through a mobile device is the ultimate convenience for anyone with the on-the-go lifestyle. Not only that, but this concept has created a new outlook on what the future holds for new developers and startups within similar fields.

Furthermore, it can be interpreted that the whole process of traveling can be translated through mobile usage and how much of a great value the mobile industry is towards the overall travel industry. From the beginning stages of booking accommodations to the final stages of enhancing destinations and creating virtual assistants, travelers are able to make the most of their mobile devices by experiencing new and efficient ways to roam the roads.

Mobile Wallet Wars

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:17:00 GMT

From high resolution displays to cutting edge mobile camera advancements, the endless smartphone battle between Apple and Android handsets has been a never ending tale that dictates superiority within the mobile world that congregates hundreds of millions of people together.

With new key features being announced every year to enhance the products of Apple, Google, and other operating systems; these groundbreaking features have not only provided success to these massive technology giants, but they have ultimately given consumers the privilege to own and experience some of the best end results of crafted engineering and design.

Furthermore, just like in any other industry, the mobile phone refresh cycle is quite accelerated with new improvements and enhancements revealed to the consumers- all of which contribute to the overall growth in competition between all the major mobile manufacturers and developers. And as various companies start rolling out their keynote presentations, tech enthusiasts and consumers begin to make their bold predictions on what the “next big thing” could be. Two years ago, the introduction of higher resolution displays, played a major role in defining smartphones- and naturally, overtime it has become an essential element in every new device being rolled out.

This year, an essential part in the ever growing smartphone world is the ability to have a convenient mobile payment infrastructure. As simple as it may sound, this field has a lot of room for growth and Apple and Google continue to strive for the best road map possible.

In recent years, various forms of mobile payments have been available to consumers. One notable example is Starbucks’ Card Mobile App which allows customers to pay for their macchiatos with a simple scan on their mobile phones.

Making mobile payments is nothing new, but it may escalate to a whole new level with the recent launch of Google Wallet and the upcoming iOS 6 Passbook App, both of which do exactly what it sounds like. This remains as a steady resource for e-commerce and it will only continue to grow, as the smartphone continues to play a pivotal role within the wide-range of consumer lifestyles.

Moreover, Google’s ability to have N.F.C. ( Near field communication) chips in its selected devices, allows its phones to act as virtual mobile credit cards to make all sorts of payments seamlessly with any N.F.C. capable store register. On the other side, with the launch of the new upcoming Apple flagship phone, people are wondering whether or not it will contain an N.F.C. chip. But the real question remains: will N.F.C. create success in the mobile payment infrastructure? So far, Google Wallet’s implementation of the N.F.C. chip is only available to Sprint customers- which remains a phenomenal drawback for the shopaholics on different carriers.

Recent rumors show that Apple may not even implement the N.F.C. chip due to the fact that many carriers block this option and that there are already other ways of making mobile purchases through QR codes and what not. However, the fact that Apple pretty much runs the entire music e-commerce through iTunes (with over 400 million astronomical unique credit card accounts) and that a possible efficient implementation of the N.F.C. chip could possibly allow Apple to control the entire real world commerce through its devices; could remain as Apple’s new destination to dominate the mobile payment infrastructure.

All in all, the battle to dominate the mobile payment infrastructure between Apple and Google could possibly reap many benefits for themselves and the future of e-commerce. A bigger and better universal mobile payment infrastructure could also ultimately lead to the growth of new innovations and start ups that complement this feature. The question is, who will be the first to execute this efficiently? Will Google advance in pushing its services to every carrier? Or will Apple be the first to implement this feature on a wide scale? Only time will tell who will dominate the mobile payment arena.

Measuring Social Media Marketing

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Curious about how social media marketing is measured? With the ever-growing importance of social media marketing through various social networking hubs, the significance of one’s “fan” or “follower” count seems to remain a crucial battle in determining one's success.

But how effective is a large following base in determining the success of one’s company? A new study by Socialbakers, a social media marketing company, and VentureBeat has come up with a more technical approach in measuring a company’s success which is done by calculating the “engagement rate”, which simply means how competent and efficient its posts, status updates, or tweets are. More simply, engagement means that your posts or tweets had weight on someone’s actions.

So whether we’re talking about the number of +1’s, likes, or retweets, the bottom line is whether or not these interactions have generated enough social reactions to the initial actions.

The study by VentureBeat provides a simple yet effective formula in calculating engagements rates. “Simply count the number of reactions (tweets, likes, shares, comments, replies, etc.) you get per day, divide by the number of actions you took (wall posts, tweets, etc), then divide by the total number of followers or fans on that day, and multiply by 100. Average rates range from .01 percent to 1 percent.”

Furthermore, the study calculated various engagement rates of the top 10 brands, with Audi USA coming on top with a .65 percent engagement rate.

Even though Audi’s main competitor, Mercedes Benz, has almost 2 million more fans than Audi does, the calculated engagement rate concludes that Audi is clearly on top with an engagement rate more than double than that of Mercedes Benz.

The beauty of this is that because all of these statistics are open to the public, the engagement rate “tool” is a great way to measure your own company’s social metric to any other competitor. Other important social metrics included the response rate and time to your fans posts- which are in fact very critical.

From this study, it can be deduced that even though numbers matter, quality over quantity is definitely a key victor in social media. This also brings forth the question of whether social media marketing is being done efficiently and how to maximize efforts to get the most out of social marketing strategies. More importantly, this proves that social media marketing is a constant battle of finding the right balance between numbers (fans) and the quality in which the content is presented.

Tablets. Tablets. Tablets.

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Tablets. Tablets. Tablets. It's all we've been hearing about lately. When I hear "tablet" I automatically want to say "pad." Why is this? Because Apple, the monopoly makes the iPad. However, I think that this mentality is about to change. Now while Apple might not face any real competition with the iPhone any time soon, it's currently facing competition with the iPad. First came the Nook and Kindle, but those are primarily readers. Now, they're trying to make them more versatile to keep up with tablets. This might have to do with studies predicting that shipmets of tablets will surpass notebook shipments by 2016. NPD DisplaySearch conducted market research concluding that the mobile PC category is about to take off from 347 million units in 2012 to more than 809 million by 2017, leading the way as mobile computers for consumers.

If you've been watching T.V. lately, you've probably seen the adorable commercial for Google's tablet, the Nexus 7 demonstrating the tablet's capabilities through a father and son camping trip. This tablet is so popular that the 16 GB model sold out in the Google Play store before the commercial was even released. It's safe to say that we'll be seeing some cool things revolving around tablets continue to come out from Google.

However, adults with the need more mobile computers aren't the only demographics to keep in mind when it comes to tablets. NPD also conducted surveys revealing that households with kids ages 4 - 14 own an average of 10 varying devices, with kids using an average of half of those devices. In fact, NPD's project about this is called Kids and Consumer Electronics: 2012 Edition. And what does this show? That kids love mobile devices, especially tablets, as much as adults. With tablets coming in second for usage after gaming consoles, it's been examined that younger children especially are drawn to tablets. Even babies can use them due to their simplicity. Not only are they being used to play games or watch movies or T.V., they're being used to development. Portable entertainment devices topped the list of devices over which children will have the most influence on future device selection.

For companies, this means making sure that accessibility, advertising, and web design are all tablet-friendly. Features. Features. Features. This is what people, and kids make decisions based on. Hence the Nook and Kindle trying to become more than just readers. It'll be interesting to see which tablet takes the lead, and what we'll see come out within the next five to 10 years.

Bleacher Report Proves That People Love Community

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:11:00 GMT

We all love the Internet. That's a known fact. But why do we love it? Studies are showing that the Internet is changing the way that people communicate with each other. People are more prone to create their own enclaves based off of the knowledge that they can communicate with practically anyone in the world without leaving their computer. They feel less pressure to get out there in order to express themselves, because the ways that they can do that on the Internet are endless. The Internet is their opportunity to create a voice.

Internet. Voice. That makes us think of blogs. However, if the average individual starts a blog in order to create a voice, it's going to take months, maybe even years to build a large audience outside of your immediate friends and family.

Let's think of the demographic sports fans. There's ESPN. There's Sports Illustrated. Both online. However, they don't create communities. People aren't openly invited to contribute their fan perspectives. A lot of these fans not only can talk about the insides and outsides of sports in their sleep, they're actually good writers. In comes Bleacher Report. After they graduated from college, long time friends Dave Finocchio, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nernetz started the website, which serves as a news site, but also where fans can contribute.

It wasn't an easy journey though to build what is now one of the top sports websites in the United States. It was a process becoming successful in the sports world when definitive conglomerates already existed and they were told that there was no need for another. So they came up with something entirely different.

Now, the Bleacher report has on average 8 million visitors a month. With more than 6,000 contributors, a community was created to cover both professional and college sports. These contributors, who are also fan bases for teams now have a voice.

This isn't a project though. It's a business. Because of such a large audience, advertising creates a substantial revenue. They built what Goldberg calls "the best sales team in media - these guys will bring in tens of millions of dollars in direct sales alone this year."

On Monday, Time Warner purchased Bleacher Report for a reported $180 million.

Dave Finocchio, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nernetz will stay on board with C.E.O. Brian Grey.

We bet that it feels good for the three of them to find themselves in these positions, and it was all because they took a global industry, sports, and turned it into a community. This shows us that companies should always strive to create a sense of community and opportunities for voice. Here at Plum Tree Group, we try to aways keep this in mind through strategies when creating services for our partners.

Olympic Fever

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:39:00 GMT

Do you have Olympic fever? We can’t help but feel excited not only for the U.S.A. team, but also for all of the teams that represent countries of our Plum Tree Group family!

The Olympics has always been monumental around the world, but how people not only watch, but engage with the games is changing, even from the past four years. Like we talked about with the presidential election, the Olympics are going digital, and we love it.

#London2012. #OpeningCeremony. #TeamU.S.A. #MichealPhelps. These are just some hashtags igniting Twitter, which has been a critical social media channel this year. In fact, the London Olympics opening ceremony saw 9.66 million tweets. In the first day of this year’s Olympics, there were more tweets than 2008’s Olympics in it’s entirety. This means that not only are a lot more people using Twitter, but a lot more people are using it, as well as other social media channels and digital tools to engage with the games. People are tweeting as they’re witnessing the spectacular scenes and discussing every move with their friends and family via technology. This never used to happen.

It doesn’t stop there. G.E. and Facebook teamed up to create a new program inspiring people to get fit and keep their communities updated on their goals and progress, with the help of Olympians. People are downloading apps on their phone to keep track of medals and streaming the games through their tablets. These are all a part of larger opportunities for digital marketing. A large amount of companies are tailoring their latest digital marketing campaigns to reach the demographics going online to connect.

However, it’s not all positive. With new technology comes news way to reach networks, like CBS, to call them out on their mistakes. After delays in airing the games, people went to social media to criticize the network. In fact, a man named Guy Adams created the trending hashtag #NBCFail before Twitter actually suspended his account, later reinstating it and personally apologizing to him.

Remember that the Olympics only happen every four years, like the presidential election, but they aren’t the only current events that open up a large platform for digital marketing. They are just two primary examples of how social media can create a spotlight for events, as well as companies. Engagement is important every day.

No matter how much technology evolves, it can’t be denied how exciting and uniting the Olympics truly are. It’ll be interesting to see how we are engaging and experiencing the games in 2016. How have you been watching the Olympics? Have you been using social media? If so, let us know how you feel about these changes by visiting our Facebook or Twitter!

(Some images obtained from Mashable.com).

Presidential Campaign Needs The Tech World

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:18:00 GMT

2012. A crucial year for our country, as well as presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Often, phrases associated with presidential campaigns include campaign trails, public appearances, and ties. However, now phrases like social media, tech, and YouTube are being more commonly used. In fact, the campaign needs everything digital, creating benefits for all parties.

Tech startups is one party that is cashing in, millions in fact, through being a part of the campaign. They are helping candidates connect with voters through technology by doing anything and everything. Some of these things include creating user-friendly websites to using digital voter files to reach the right demographics. Who are the key digital political agencies (yes, those exist) making waves? Targeted Victory, a Republican choice, Blue State Digital and Bully Pulpit Interactive, Democratic choices, have brought in a revenue of at least $46 million from candidates and Super P.A.C.s (political action committees), according to Bloomberg. It's not just about the big boys though. Smaller agencies and startups, such as NationBuilder and Rally, non-partisan, who have brought in $14 million in investment capital over the past year as candidates prepared. This shows us that investors think politics is an industry that's ready to go digital.

Internally, campaigns actually have digital teams. Barack Obama's is a team of more than 100, while Mitt Romney's is approximately 80. However, they often turn to outside groups to assist with setting up web ads and online fundraising.

Remember our blog post about YouTube? That's also a primary component. There is what seems to be an infinite amount of content on this social media channel revolving around the campaign. Everything from campaign short movies, rebuttals, Obama Boy, it's all there. Creators of YouTube videos include candidates, voters, Super P.A.C.'s, and even celebrities.

It doesn't stop in the United States. Egyptian presidential candidates are also using social media! As we can remember, the Internet has long been a controversial and crucial element when it comes to Egypt's politics. During their presidential campaign, in midst of allegations of fraud and a corrupt system, both presidential candidates took to Facebook and Twitter to plead their cases.

What's the overall message here? Obviously, they want you to vote for them, but the important thing to remember is that that all of these digital efforts are to get you to vote in general. The tech world is a good place to start digging and get in the know when it comes to the president election. So, what are you waiting for? Go check this stuff out!

Experiential Marketing

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Plum Tree Group is always looking to enrich our services, and in doing so, we are enchancing our marketing department through experiential marketing. So, to begin with, what is experiential marketing? Experiential marketing is basically what it sounds like. Marketing through experience. However, to expand, it allows people to engage and interact with brands, products, and services in sensory ways. This type of marketing provides information, but through personal experiences that make people feel connected. An analogy would be that customers are the cord, and marketing is the outlet. Experiential marketing is the action of plugging the cord into the outlet.

The process of experiential marketing, like any type of marketing, begins with understanding the client's expectations. Why are they so passionate about their brand and products? How can we convey that to people? We are currently in the process of working with Illinois Vehicle, an automotive insurance company. Part of their experiential marketing are videos for a knowledge center being featured on their website. One of their primary goals is outreach to the Latin American communities. Second is research. Lots of research. This includes hard data speaking to what's working within an industry and why. If we have a niche client, will what they're doing work from an angle, or do we need to modify some things to appeal to more people? These are questions that we ask ourselves and answer through our research. One of the things we researched was what specific things that our target demographics need and want more information on, so that we could choose the appropriate topics.

So in conducting our research for Illinois Vehicle, we decided that in order to best help them achieve their goal of outreach to the Latin American communities, it would be best to film the videos in areas where those communities are based. We asked ourselves what would be an appropriate location. So we went straight to Pilsen, a heavily Latin American community to film. This will help Illinois Vehicle better identify with the customers, and show that we are actually creating contact with the people that we are trying to reach. The filming process was prepared with clothing changes, concepts, scripts, and set locations. We had a great time that day meshing with people and bringing the videos to life so that they could be sent through post-production and distribution.

Remember though, experiential marketing doesn't stop with videos. Next up for Illinois Vehicle is attending a huge Latin American festival to create awareness and meet people. Events are also a key component. It is a very creative department, so anything from flash mobs to the new House of Nike can help a brand. Think about some of the best experiential marketing that you have experienced. What made it special? Our goal at P.T.G. is to continue to define and grow this department through fundamentals and innovation.

Plum Tree Group at Techweek 2012

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:07:00 GMT

Like a first site launch or a first wireframe, the first trade show is a rite of passage all digital agencies find themselves face-to-face with eventually. But we here at Plum Tree Group know we passed that milestone at Chicago’s Techweek with flying colors! We met a lot of great people, introduced our new products and saw some amazing new innovations in the span of just a few days.

Techweek 2012 Expo was held on the eighth floor of the Merchandise Mart, from Friday June 22^nd until Monday June 25^th. The Conference - which featured many interesting panel discussions, workshops and insight from some of the foremost leaders in technology, media and marketing - went until Tuesday, the 26^th. We gave away a lot of flyers (and candy!) while engaging with fellow tech-nerds interested not only in our product development side, but also our design and development work. We had a team of friendly PTG’ers there to answer any questions from our development, design, sales and marketing teams.

Plum Tree Group spoke with many people interested in our new products, which we unveiled at our booth: eIntelli and OnBoard. Many fellow business owners and salespeople loved the idea of making their proposal-writing easier and more effective, while several company representatives loved the idea of gamifying the new employee orientation process.

There were a ton of great features at Techweek, but a few were absolutely standout. Several of us participated in the Food Truck Face-Off, which largely meant stuffing our faces at the food trucks parked outside Merch Mart. PTG’s unanimous favorite @TheWagyuWagon actually won, congrats guys! The Startup City was certainly a highlight, with some amazing new ideas ready to roll out. If you missed it, there’s a virtual tour on Techweek’s Facebook page, check it out!

All in all, Techweek was a fun, amazing time for Plum Tree Group and if you came by our booth, you helped make it a great first trade show experience. Let us know if you met one of the team, Techweek brethren! We’re sure to be back!

Creating The Best Mobile Landing Page

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Here at Plum Tree Group, we've helped design a lot of websites for companies, and a lot goes into it. However, these days, there's more to the traditional website. People aren't looking at websites on just their desktops anymore, or even on just their smart phones either. Now there are e-readers coming out in all shapes and sizes, as well as other forms of tablets. So you need to make sure that you have the best mobile landing page. In other words, you need to make sure that your website translates on to every device in a way that will make consumers reciprocate. Here are three primary tips that will help:

1. Words. It's important to be brief. Very brief. Reduction is approximately 35% for smart phones, and 65% for e-readers and tablets. This means making headings no more than four words, and using no more than three bullets. Every single word should have a large amount of value. It's also important to be legible. Consumers shouldn't be using their fingers to zoom in and out of different things. Google recommends an arm's length as a legibility guide for mobile. Be mindful of contrast and color schemes as well.

2. Accessbility and speed. People don't want to download the same software on to their mobile devices the same way that they do on their desktops. So make sure that your entire page can be viewed. Flash, frames, certain kinds of images, and many plug-ins do not work on mobile. Instead, try to stick to HTML5 and JPEG's. 40% of consumers turn to a competitor's site after a failed mobile experience. Speed is also crucial. 74% of consumers wait five seconds for everything to load. Then they're on to something else. So don't clog your website with too much.

3. From orderly to action. For mobile devices, single column layouts are the best. Be sure to put all of the important information at the top, scrolling from top priorities to lower ones. Then, have calls to action. Keep forms simple and short. If there is more information to be collected, seperate it into to pages, to make it seem like it's not so much. Also, have phone numbers embedded with direct calling capability. A lot of phone calls to companies are made from mobile devices, all coming from websites. Just remember not to have too many calls to action. Try sticking to three or less.

We hope that this information helps. Google is an excellent resource to collect more information on this. Keep everything mobile in mind when designing anything for your company, because this is where a huge amount of consumers are. This is one of our key focuses at P.T.G., and we want to make sure that you are up to date on all of the constant changes.

(Some images obtained from www.searchenginewatch.com.)

Creating a Dynamic Inbox

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

This past weekend, The Plum Tree Group was a part of Tech Week here in Chicago, where we got the opportunity to see and get to know a lot of great startups. Here at P.T.G., we're all about taking these big ideas, and creating big results. In order to create an answer, or product that people will use, you first have to ask, what is the problem that people are having? As the saying goes, "People don't want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole."

Innovation is the core of the relationship between brands and their consumers. To channel this, Microsoft BizSpark has started The Spark of Genius Series, where each post highlights a unique feature of a startup. We found a post about a startup called PhilterIt particularly interesting.

So what is the problem? Your inbox is a mess. Even though you might have multiple e-mail accounts, personal e-mails, promotional e-mails, and work e-mails can all start to collide. Plus, you can't leave those work e-mails at the office. You constantly need to be in the know. On average, a person checks their e-mail every one to two hours in their free time.

In comes PhilterIt. PhilterIt is all about choice. First, you need to register, using AOL Mail, Gmail, or Yahoo Mail. Then the process begins. If you still want to see all of your read and unread e-mails, or every e-mail at once, that's fine. However, if you want to seperate your personal e-mails and brand e-mails, or categorize all of them, that can happen too. The interface pulls all of the e-mails that you have received in the past 30 days. PhilterIt lists all of the brands that have sent you e-mails, and categorizes them. Categories include Organizations and Retail, Finance and Bills, Entertainment, ect. From then, you can prioritize, and choose which e-mails will be accessible on your personal Dashboard.

PhilterIt is the result of lots of research, surveys, and interviews. All of these helped creators Avi Levine and Robert Wollner discover what individuals want from their inboxes.

The concept is that it can be as dynamic or as simple as you want. The startup's ultimate goal is to revolutionize e-mail and online communication. With the company starting development last November, they realize that there is still a path ahead, constantly working to perfect the product. Their most recent goal is to make the web platform capible of going mobile, which is naturally the next step.

This means that companies are going to have to work that much harder to reach their consumer via e-mail. Although e-mail is an effective and growing means of communication, it will now be easier for consumers to filter brand e-mails out. So companies have to make sure that consumers view their e-mails worth their time.

If you want to see this startup for yourself, check out http://www.philterit.com.

(Images obtained from http://www.philterit.com)

The Hidden Treasures of YouTube

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Social media is everywhere these days. There's no denying that. For most companies, it's not even a choice or not. You must create engagement. However, out of all of the social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram... YouTube is often overlooked. The Plum Tree Group is currently in the process of creating short videos for clients, and we have found the process to be educational, but fun.

So what are the hidden treasures of YouTube? How powerful can it actually be? YouTube now has over 200 million views a day on mobile. It serves as an inclusive voice to create awareness and engage in conversation. We want to share five hidden treasures of YouTube that can help your personal or company brand...

1. YouTube can create a revenue. An exceptional revenue. It's estimated that in 2011, YouTube generated around $2 billion. There's a YouTube Partner Program, where you can make a deal with the site. Rules basically state that you need to create original videos, which you own, that are regularly uploaded and viewed by thousands of users. How much can you make? That all depends on the volume of views. However, most say that their videos bring in thousands a month. Not bad, huh?

2. You can legitimately learn anything on YouTube. It's actually a central place for education. Not only are there experts on YouTube, but there are people who should be experts, and can offer loads of knowledge. Whether you want to learn how to do your make-up like Lady Gaga in one of her music videos, or engage in an hour long fitness session, it's all on there for users like you. Also, if you're tired of listening to A.M. radio or N.P.R., there are also a lot of current issues being presented on YouTube, from all different kinds of perspectives.

3. Voice. A strong voice. If your company is looking to create a general awareness, and speak to the public in large about things that are important to you, this is the place. When this social media channel is used correctly, you can have millions of views over the span of a weekend. This isn't like other social media channels where people have to be your friend, following you, or even have to be subscribed to you in order to see your content. Without a YouTube membership, anyone can go to the site and punch in your video's keywords.

4. Sponsored isn't always best. You want subscribers. These are people who view all of your videos on their feed, giving you guaranteed views. However, a lot of people subscribe to channels based off of recommendations, not sponsors. It's all about word of mouth. So think twice before dropping a lot of money on a sponsored message or placed advertising. A buzz needs to be generated instead. This can be created by first, having catchy content, and second, by using other social media channels to draw attention to your video.

5. It's about efficiency. Although your content has to be catchy, it also has to be efficient. People in YouTube videos serve as filters to present information however they want, creating the voice we mentioned before. However, it's important to remember that people don't want to sit through a 10 minute video. You need to pick what content is the most appealing and important. Short, but not too simple is the way to go. Humor also doesn't hurt.

Lastly, it's important to remember to appreciate YouTube. Because of it's power, a lot of other cultures view it as dangerous. It's actually banned in China and Ethopia, where using it is considered a punishable crime. So remember to utilize YouTube, whether it's for building a brand, creating a personal identity, sharing knowledge, or trying to bring in some revenue. As we mentioned, it's often forgotten in the world of social media, which is a mistake that you could be making.

(Images obtained from www.youtube.com)

The End of Online Shopping Problems

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Online shopping. It’s great. You can buy anything that your heart desires in the comfort of your home with the click of a mouse. However, haven’t most of us come across online shopping problems? You have that moment when you realized that you ordered something three weeks ago, or it’s arrived, and is almost unrecognizable to what you thought you ordered. This creates feelings of anxiety around online shopping, preventing people from taking the jump.

It would be nice if there were something universal, which could ensure that people wouldn’t run into these problems. The world of online shopping is vast, and we want quality for our money. In comes Google Trusted Stores, connecting shoppers and great stores online.

Google has been testing this program since last fall with 50 merchants and over 10 million orders. They were met with success, and as of June 7^th, any U.S. merchant can apply to Google Trusted Stores.

What happens if their application is approved? First, they get a Google Trusted Stores badge. When readers hover their mouse over this badge, they will see the merchant’s “report card” with their “grades” on it. They receive a grade for 1) shipping and 2) service. This badge is only given to merchants that have provided overall excellent experiences to customers.

Still feeling skeptical? When you buy from merchants with badges, you can get up to $1,000 lifetime purchase protection per shopper. There is also a customer service team ready to help you and a merchant resolve an issue.

Overall, this is going to benefit everyone. Consumers are going to feel more assured in making online purchases. As well as on the other side, merchants are receiving an opportunity to demonstrate excellence and gain new business. Badges will soon show up on Google.com ads and Google Shopping results. Merchants both big and small can utilize this. Wayfair, one of the largest online-only retailers increased sales on its site by 2.3 percent with Google Trusted Stores. And Beau-coup, a specialty online retailer, saw an 8.6 percent increase.

Google Trust Stores is free to both customers and merchants, and is still being improved to reach its full potential. The Plum Tree Group is excited to see this roll out, and hopes to incorporate it into work with clients.

Can Instagram Improve Your Brand?

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Instagram is currently in the process of joining the social media giants, ranking among Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Twitter. However, it’s doing it in approximately half the time that it took its peers. So what is Instagram, and what can be attributed to its rapid popularity?

Instagram is a free photo sharing program where people can take photos, apply a digital filter, and then share them either on Instagram itself. Here, you can follow users and users can follow you, and people can “like” or comment on photos. Or you can share them on other social media outlets, such as your Facebook wall, your Tumblr page, or your Twitter feed. Since its initial iOS launch in October of 2.010, it has acquired over 50 million users, uploading 58 photos a second. And with its recent Facebook acquisition for $1 billion, Instagram is on the fast track to growth.

How I see it, Instagram has the streaming capability of Facebook, the self-promotion capability of LinkedIn, the visual capability of Tumblr, and the “Look at what I’m doing at this very moment” capability of Twitter. In other words, it connects people in numerous ways. It’s relatively simple, user friendly, and causes people to relate, explore, and inspire.

To continue engagement, Instagram has a popular photo stream, as well as a blog. On this blog, they feature photo collections from different users, highlighting unique things like almond surf boards, or invite photo submissions through projects. One project spread the hash tag of #ArtInMyLatte. This invited photos from local coffee shops everywhere with intricate designs in people’s lattes.

So, can P.T.G. clients use Instagram? Definitely. With companies like National Geographic, N.P.R., NBC News, Playboy, Pepsi, CNN, Starbucks, Grammys, and people like David Blaine activating accounts, any company that can use pictures to tell their story is welcome to benefit. To gain followers, and then post pictures that embody a brand, promote a product, or encourage a lifestyle could do a company wonders.

PTG Marketing Team

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:06:00 GMT

The Plum Tree Group Marketing team explaining how we become a part of our client's businesses and work together to bring marketing strategy to life, through PPC, SEO and Social Media.

Winning Engagement with Gamification

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:36:00 GMT

What Is Gamification?

First let’s talk about what gamification isn’t. Some people think gamification is about making games, but they are wrong. Gamification is the process of identifying the things that make different kinds of games fun, exciting and engaging and then applying those concepts to non-game situations. Gamification practitioners deal with game dynamics and game mechanics and try to implement them in different ways. Today marketers and digitally savvy gamification practitioners are using gamification to drive user engagement and loyalty to online presences and social media.

Game dynamics are the underlying forces that drive engagement and motivation in a game. A great example of a game dynamic is status. In the first person shooter Call of Duty, the game is not about collecting badges, but players proudly display badges as status markers in their profiles and are motivated by the desire to have a better status. Some other common dynamics include reward, competition and discovery.

Game mechanics are the nuts and bolts of what makes a game work. Turns are a classic example of game mechanics. Turns are a way of structuring gameplay that usually limits the player to performing a set number of actions or a set amount of time in which to act. Other mechanics include points, time, and space.

Great, but why do you care? Gamification has been growing for the past couple years and the verdict is in: it gets results. Companies have sprung up that design gamification platforms for websites that take advantage of a mix of game mechanics and dynamics.

Gartner research shows that the Gamification industry is on target to generate $2.5 billion within the next 3 years. Sites participating in the beta version of BigDoor’s platform saw 153% lift in User Loyalty; 672% lift in User Engagement and 355% in Social Sharing. This month BigDoor has reached $13 million in funding. Badgeville published this infographic last year to showcase their success:

Playboy

Playboy wanted its audience to become more engaged with the brand than it otherwise might be. Bunchball helped customize the social part of their Nitro platform to create a Facebook App called “Miss Social.” Miss Social was a competition for women who wanted to be in Playboy. Each month the competition ended and started over. The winner was chosen by finding whoever had the most friends vote for her. Each month the winner of the month was crowned Miss Social and won the opportunity to have her pictures (nude or clothed) in Playboy.

This competition used status, competition and reward dynamics to great effect. The mechanics involved “Likes” functioning as points and the time-based competition mechanic to limit the time in which points could be earned. In addition, users could perform additional actions to win more votes and encourage their friends to share the app and its relationship to Playboy subscriptions.

The results were unequivocally successful: Playboy experienced an 85% increase in re-engagement from its audience and a 60% increase in revenue from one month to the next. The app launched in December 2010, and 6 months later the active user base for the app had grown to 80,000 women.

Getting Started With Gamification Platforms

A number of companies have been successfully implementing gamification on websites and driving engagement and loyalty online.

1. Badgeville

Badgeville’s director is a white label company that attributes its fast growth and success to the easy implementation and flexibility of their Social Rewards & Analytics Program which is customized to meet client needs.

Their main offering is The Badgeville Platform, which “leverages gamification mechanics to create engaging web experiences” and drive behavior and engagement valued by clients. Their platform is customized for each client, and they offer a consulting service wherein clients are partnered with an implementation planner in order to customize their product for each business.

2. BigDoor

According to CEO & Co-founder Keith Smith, BigDoor's approach is to be open and flexible, which means that their API (Application Program Interface) is easily accessible by clients and others interested in developing the gamification platform.

One of the philosophies central to BigDoor’s business identity is that gamification needs to be adopted more widely and accepted as legitimate by more businesses owners, who at present remain skeptical. To this end BigDoor offers their platform free of cost to small businesses with roughly 25,000 monthly visitors or fewer. They hope to grow gamification from the ground up by focusing on small businesses and making adoption simple and easy. Finally, BigDoor stresses that there is no omnibus gamification solution, and gamification requires the constant supervision that they provide.

3. Bunchball

Bunchball’s founder Rajat Paharia writes, “At the end of the day, we all need to provide something of value to our customers, and they need to pay us for it. So when thinking about which companies have momentum, you should … focus on which companies are signing meaningful customers, generating meaningful revenue from them, and delivering meaningful results... at Bunchball we are doing all of the above.”

Unlike BigDoor, which wants to involve as many new businesses in gamification and even offers a free way to implement their gamification software, Bunchball hopes to position itself as the business that goes after the big clients, and already boasts the most “blue chip” clients such as major television networks, Warner Bros., Adobe, HP, Chiquita, and Playboy to name a few.

4. YOU

There is nothing to say that you need to turn to one of these platforms to provide a gamification solution for you. These platforms have all been proven to do a good job at making users engage more fully with websites, but your whole business isn’t your website, and there’s more to gamification than just an online presence.

Anyone can apply gamification to their product, service, or public presence. All you need to do is start thinking of your own creative solution. Gabe Zichermann says that the most important dynamics are SAPS: Status, Access, Power, and Stuff. Go through your own memories of games you’ve enjoyed and think about how those kept your attention. You were probably challenged and rewarded with something from the SAPS dynamics.

Try and find ways to implement some fun into your service too. At the end of the day, gamification is about using game mechanics and dynamics to boost engagement and garner loyalty. It’s up to you to decide how to positively reinforce what you want your audience to engage and to what you want them to be loyal. Gamification is your new tool for engagement, go use it.

PT Bio: The Bus Bank

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

PTBios: We often act as an extension of our client's company. PTBios is an opportunity for our clients to have a "one-on-one" with their "colleagues" This week we mix it up and turn the camera on them! Meet Brandon Dudley, Director of Marketing of one of Plum Trees longest clients The Bus Bank.

What is Design?

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:43:00 GMT

This week we sat down with Eric Smith, Director of Design & Product Development here at The Plum Tree Group. Eric breaks down the fundamentals of design and gives the insider on the PT design process.

iPad 3 Announcement? (PT Update)

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:33:00 GMT

To start the year we posted a video counting down our " Top 5 Tech Trends of 2011" ( http://plumtreegroup.net/_blog/The_Blog/post/Top_5_Tech_Trends_of_2011/) in which we mention the possibility of an iPad 3..after trolling the internet for more details we came across this:

The rumor is that the iPad 3 announcement will come in the first week of March, but doesn’t specify when it will be released. For reference, the iPad 2 was announced on March 2nd of last year, and available on the 11th. There are some significant changes expected and to gain a better understanding on the current state of the American consumers’ current iPad usage and anticipation of the iPad 3, AYTM conducted DIY market research utilizing our online consumer panel and survey tool. The highlights of our discoveries are encapsulated in this infographic:

Source: AYTM Research

What Makes a Good Logo (5 Quick Tips)

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:38:00 GMT

What makes a strong, effective Logo? Lets asks a professional. This week we sat down with PT Senior Designer, Christina Lewis and she gives her "Elite 5" tips to making a strong Logo.

PTBios: Nick (Marketing)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:58:00 GMT

PTBios: We often act as an extension of our client's company. PTBios is an opportunity for our clients to have a "one-on-one" with their "colleagues." Meet Nick, Search Engine Marketing Specialist here at the The Plum Tree Group

What The F@*# is Pinterest?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Hello! Mica, your friendly neighborhood Outreach Assassin. I do Social Media and Email here at PTG and something that really caught my eye is a little thing called Pinterest. But first things first. What. Is. Pinterest.

Pinterest categorizes itself as an online pinboard. Much like the one we keep over our desks, it’s very image focused. I actually began a personal Pinterest account to spend a day playing with it. I wanted to know more about how PTG can use this new network for Social Media campaigns and SEO. Just a tip from my experience, if you want to investigate something new, do so as an individual personality - yourself! If you think about it, all Social Media is created to connect people with other people.

You start with boards, which are kind of like your own groupings, such as “My New Bathroom” or “Cars I Like.” Each board fits underneath a larger category like “Women’s Apparel” or “Food & Drink” which can be seen as it’s own feed whenever anyone posts into it. Each box in a Board is an individual Pin, which is a picture, video and link to source. Pinterest can do a whole lot of stuff with each individual Pin and account. Such as:

- Can save links like bookmarking

- Can use like a wish list with Prices
- Can see others' boards
- Can follow people/accounts
- Can follow individual boards
- Can comment on pins
- Can "like" pins
- Can tag other users in pins
- Can let followers pin to boards
- Can "repin" pins to own boards
- Can post videos (new, YouTube)
- Can search for content
- Can browse categories

- Can embed outside of Pinterest

Phew! But why is it important? One reason is sheer growth. It’s been called one of the “Top 10 Social Networks” by Experian’s Hitwise, due it its meteoric rise in the last six months from under under 1 million to over 3.24 million users per month.

Very very recently, Pinterest actually added functionality to put Pins into the FB timeline. Clearly, Pinterest is poised to grow.

Why else is Pinterest important? SEO! Most social media implements “No-Follow” links, which prevents spammers from creating a bunch of Twitter or Facebook accounts to affect page rank. Pinterest, however has several DO-FOLLOW links in every Pin that not only count toward SEO value, but are coming from a very reputable source: Pinterest! Also, when a Pin is “RePinned” that new page will also have links back and so on

So, who then is doing all this Pinning and RePinning? According to comScore, Pinterest is Female-dominated, women making up between 54-70% of its user base. While it’s not limited to girly stuff, HitWise does explain that it’s “dominated by images featuring home decor, crafts, fashion and food.” An article in USA Today recently quipped, “if you haven't heard of [Pinterest], find the nearest twenty- or thirty-something woman. She'll likely know what's up and can tell you all about it. If she can stop pinning.”

What brands can use Pinterest? In terms of PTG clients, I’m exploring the idea of using Pinterest for both SMO and SEO purposes for companies that are female-oriented or have excellent photo content. Pinterest has some great ways to Pin, from an iPhone app to a Chrome plugin, but sadly, to get an account is Invite Only. Time to make friends with your resident Social Media Specialist, or you can add yourself to a waitlist on Pinterest. In terms of best practices, it’s hard to say this early, but the one I found in all my research was just to not overdo the self-promotion. If a brand or client wants a Pinterest account, be sure to start a board devoted to “Stuff We Like” “Things We Are Inspired By” in addition to any product images or promotional content. From there, just tread the Social Media waters and happy Pinning!

PT 'Voice' - Viral Marketing + Honda Super Bowl Commercial

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Video marketing campaigns has had a huge effect on our industry specifically marketing. How did Honda capitalize on this during the Super Bowl?

Is Google’s “Search, plus your World” Bad for SEO?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:31:00 GMT

When it comes to social media, Google’s attempts to get involved have not exactly been gamechangers. However, we should not compare Google Buzz or Wave to the bigger, better Google+. The more versatile and popular network has finally learned to exploit the biggest advantage that Google has over Facebook and Twitter: integration with Google’s other services.

This means Google+ buttons on Gmail and Reader, integration with Chrome, and most recently, Google+ content showing up first in Google search results. But is Google’s so-called “Search, plus your World” feature something that makes social networking easier, or is it going to become a nightmare for Search Engine Optimization experts around the world?

We recently asked Plum Tree’s SEO experts what kind of effect they think it will have. Their opinion? Either it will be a big failure, OR they’ll essentially force people to accept it as a part of the new Google environment. The new, “personalized” Google+ search results will show up before organic search results and even before paid advertisements. This will make it harder for SEO engineers to optimize content, given that results pages will vary largely from user to user, depending on how active they are on Google+.

Over the last few years, one of Google’s goals has been to add “trust and authority” to search results, based on recently shared and trending content. Link building—that is, getting people to link to your content—has always been one of the biggest ways authority is determined. However, what will change is how Google determines the quality of the source that the link comes from. In other words, getting someone to link to your content on Google+ is immediately more valuable than a link from Twitter or Facebook.

Another huge impact Search+ will have on SEO is increased loss of keyword referral data. Ever since last year, if you are signed in with your Google account and perform a search, the keywords you search with are encrypted. Now, this might sound good for many people, but for SEO experts it means that a certain percentage of keyword traffic data show up as “(not provided)” in their Analytics platform. Originally, this percentage was only in the single-digits, but with so many people now logged in to Google Plus, many have now reported these numbers to be above 20%.

What this all means is that, if you want to leverage Google+ to optimize your content, it’s not enough to simply have a Google+ account and be posting content there—you also have to be well-connected and shared by many other Google+ users. As “Search, plus your World,” grows and evolves, we’ll start to get a better understanding of just how big of an impact it could have.

An Intro to Adobe Photoshop Touch SDK and Mobile App Suite

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Adobe has come out with some pretty amazing new tools over the last year or so. While there have been several notable upgrades to many Creative Suite applications, the stuff we’re most excited about has to do with Photoshop and its new mobile capabilities. In fact, if you’re still using Photoshop CS4 or earlier, you’re missing out on some incredible stuff.

The Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) was announced last April and will allow developers to create “companion apps” for mobile and tablet devices. The free-to-download SDK is part of a larger campaign to create an integration—or perhaps, more accurately, a communication—directly from tablet devices apps into Photoshop on your desktop computer. The SDK is compatible with iOS, Android, RIM, and webOS-based devices, as well as with both Mac OS and Windows.

As opposed to many websites and software companies who often just create a “mobile-version” of their program or network, Adobe is thinking more about tablets and mobile devices as a tool to be used in conjunction with your desktop computer. This means thinking about the inherent advantages that a tablet device offers. The apps are catered more to those times when creativity comes unexpectedly; in the coffee shop or in the park, scribbling on a napkin or taking a quick photo with your iPhone. Also, the apps are more designed to help “drive Photoshop” rather than act as a mobile substitute.

Adobe created this video to help elaborate on their vision for the Touch SDK’s potential for creativity and productivity.

To complement the release of the Touch SDK, Adobe has released three new mobile apps:

Adobe Color Lava:
If you’ve ever used Adobe Kuler, Lava is like that, but on steroids and made specifically for touch-based devices. You can actually swirl around colors and mix them up the way a painter would on his or her palette. Once you’re done, you can then transmit the colors you created back into Photoshop as swatches.

Adobe Eazel:
Digital finger painting done right; create rich realistic paintings on your tablet and then send them to Photoshop to finish them up. There are some other apps that do this, such as Sketchbook Pro, ArtStudio, and Brushes, but the ability to seamlessly integrate your work back into Photoshop is very attractive.

Adobe Nav:
In what is sort-of a mobile version of Adobe Bridge, this app can be used to browse through all the projects you have open on Photoshop, as well as to customize the default tools found in your Photoshop desktop toolbar. It can also be used as a way to transfer images from your tablet into Photoshop.

Adobe Revel (formerly called Carousel):
The newest of the bunch, this one requires a paid subscription, but for a good reason: it syncs your entire photo library between your computer, tablet, and mobile devices. No need to worry about storage issues or syncing things manually. Subscriptions go for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.

These all come together to form an amazing, cross-platform, Photoshop ecosystem of creativity. It’ll be exciting to see what other apps Adobe comes out with to expand Photoshop’s capabilities. Have you tried any of these apps yet for your iPad, Android device, or other tablet? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!