ShareSquare

What’s Not Rockin’ @SXSW? The Mobile Web

Note: This was originally posted on Mashable.

We had a hunch it was bad, but we didn’t know it’d be this bad.

In the name of science we pulled together a list of 1,700 websites belonging to artists performing (officially & unofficially) at SXSW, ran them through BuiltWith.com’s magic valmorification, and topped it off with some good ‘ole fashioned survey data.

So why does it matter that only 9% are “good” on mobile?  Put aside the fact that, on a normal day, about one-third of all searches leading to these sites will come from mobile devices.  On a SXSW day, it’s closer to something like… all of them.

If these are your websites breaking media, content, and navigation left and right, it’s not too late to give yourself a fighting chance.

If you’re a fan heading to Austin, might be a good idea to pack the old Discman, just in case.

And, don’t call it a comeback, we been here for years.

Why Real Gs Sometimes Move in Silence, Like Lasagna

Today you’ll notice a fresh look on ShareSquare’s homepage.  It’s a small taste of things to come.

A few months ago we made a conscious decision to change the way we released substantial improvements to the ShareSquare platform. What we’d once shout from the rooftops we opted to begin shrouding behind the enterprise veil.  There were two reasons for this: the first was an annoyance; the second, an epiphany.

#1 – Flattery Wears Thin

We’d never devoted much time to looking over our shoulder, but at some point it began to feel like a cottage industry of fast-followers had sprung up behind us.  What we’d initially dismissed as evidence of market validation suddenly appeared to become a reverse-engineering hot pursuit.  Since even the outright clone attempts were missing the big picture (a real platform is more than the sum of its parts), this was still just a nuisance.  Until…

#2 – The Pieces Come Together 

Creating a QR code is not QR code marketing.  Making a mobile website is not mobile engagement.  Having analytics is not a feedback loop.  The devil, as they say, is always in the details.

Our epiphany arrived soon after we began to witness our humble hodgepodge of objective-oriented features and innovative non-technical CMS modules taking shape into a true platform for offline-to-online mobile engagement; one that could effectively multiply the entire lifecycle value of even the biggest marketing efforts, start to finish, and beyond.  

Basically it was like hand-building a roadster in the garage, then startling ourselves when we heard the engine roar for the first time.

In the last 3 months we’ve been under the hood tuning this machine, making upgrades, and putting it on the racetrack with a selection of the world’s best entertainment and brand marketers.  And frankly, we’ve been excited to keep this baby under wraps.  But the time is approaching to unveil our little engineering marvel to the world, if only to let a lot of folks out there realize they’ve been dealing with lemons.

Hopefully that assault of metaphors didn’t knock you senseless.  Stay tuned.  We hope that what’s coming next still might.

Yours in silence,
Matthias

Mobile 2.0 Released! ShareSquare HTML5 Web Apps – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Check out this hotness.

Yup, that’s our freshly updated bespoke UI… for a mobile web app that you can make in minutes, with no coding!  Who needs native apps, right?  ShareSquare is fast approaching the point where you may have trouble telling the difference.

But we didn’t do it just to make them prettier: every tweak is a data-driven optimization for better performance across all mobile devices.  So your offline-to-online campaigns will benefit from more engagement and conversion than ever before.  Bigger more vibrant submit buttons?  82% lift in user submitted emails. Improved landscape mode?  On average, an additional 43 seconds of user engagement. How?  We spend every day scheming up new ways to up the ante on this best-of-breed platform for connecting your band, brand or business with the offline audience that loves you (or soon will).

And yes, the Scarface Limited Edition Blu-ray just dropped on Sept. 6.  Much like Tony Montana, ShareSquare is all about “The world, chico.  And everything in it.”

The World is Yours,
Matthias