Here's a round-up of what's been going on here in Austin and around the Network the past month -- plus some updates to look forward to in September.
Product Updates
New Sharing WidgetAfter some major product updates in July, August has been more tame with just a steady stream of tweaks and improvements.
One of those is the new social sharing widget added to the side of all pages on your site. This widget makes it easier for readers to share their favorite Events, Artists, and posts, and provides us with valuable insights into what content goes viral.
In the three weeks since this widget was rolled out, we can already see that Facebook is the overwhelming platform of choice for our readers, making up 77% of all shares (Twitter has accounted for only 18%).
One of the most shared pages so far has been Do415’s “10 Things We Love About Nightlife”, with 37 clicks coming from three different shares -- all on Facebook. Kind of makes you want to start publishing your own viral content on your site, doesn’t it?
What else?
- Events in Radmin Dashboard! You may have noticed Upcoming RSVPs and Upcoming Giveaways in your Radmin Dashboard this week. These are the first additions of what will become a more full-featured Dashboard.
- Social Links in Radmin: The social links that appear in your site’s footer can now be edited and rearranged in Radmin
- Just go to Content > Social Links in the Radmin sidebar
- Advertiser Names: When setting up an ad in Radmin, you can browse existing Advertiser names in a pop-up so you don’t accidentally duplicate an Advertiser using a different (or misspelled) name
- Browsing Pages: You can now browse /p/ Pages in Radmin and sort them by either by name or date created
- Just go to Content > Pages in the Radmin sidebar
- Fixed Ticket Info Bug: We fixed a bug that was causing some ticket info to be hidden in Radmin
- Promo Users Reindexed: There was a bug reported in the DSD queue that some promo (List) users were not showing up as suggestions when voting on Events. We reindexed all promo users so that this is longer an issue.
- Radmin Ads 'Active' By Default: Some of you were reporting that brand ads that were set up in Radmin weren't appearing on the site. It turned out that they were usually just checked 'inactive'. All ads in Radmin are now made 'active' by default to avoid confusion.
- Adding Assets in Radmin: You can now add site assets in Radmin by clicking on the Paperclip at the top of the sidebar
- Assets can be managed in by going to Site Design > Assets in the Radmin sidebar
Tools to Help You Win
Introducing Slack
While we have Gmail and Asana to stay in touch about big projects, we don't really provide you with a reliable way to communicate with other people in the Network in real time. Your fellow metros are often your greatest resource for business tips and support, and we want to make it easier for you to collaborate on a daily basis.
This week we will be rolling out access to the new DoStuff Network Slack account. Slack is a new chat and messaging platform that allows teams to communicate through topic-based chat rooms, private groups, and 1-on-1 messaging. It's stupid simple to use, and will make it easier to leverage the other brilliant minds across the Network to get things done.
We granted early access to a few metros last week to get some basic feedback, but will be sending out invites to everyone in the Network by the end of this week. In the meantime, feel free to familiarize yourself with Slack here.
What else?
- Prepare to Stop Using Admin! Over the past couple months, more and more features have been ported over from Radmin to Admin. Other than a few specific tasks (e.g. Giveaways and Newsletters) most of your daily workflow should be performed in Radmin. Very soon Radmin will be 100% functional and we will start locking the doors on Admin -- so be prepared! If you're still performing Radmin tasks in Admin, you're already way behind.
- Adjusting Ad Weights in Radmin: Brand ad weights can now be edited inline, so you can set exactly how often each ad will show up in a very intuitive way. Also, editing one ad's weight will automatically adjust the others proportionally so that the total percentage is always 100%.
- Email RSVP Guest List: When Radmin first launched, you only had the option to send the guest list at a certain time before the start of the Event. Now, you can download and send the guest list at any time, just like in old Admin. You can also download all RSVP emails and all opt-in emails at any time.
- Just go to the "List" tab when managing your RSVP to find all these options.
- Error in Media Searches: Some of you have reported receiving a "No suitable images found" error in the Media Search modal. Unfortunately, this is an error caused by the Facebook API from time to time and can be fixed by simply clicking the magnifying glass button in the top-right. This will reset the search and should pull up the images you have to choose from.
- New Giveaway Terms and Conditions: Due to legal requirements, we changed the terms and conditions of the giveaways on all metros and ECP's. The terms now specify that anyone can enter by emailing "giveaways@do---.com". We expect virtually no one to use this email, but just be aware that you are legally required to include any entries that come in this way.
- If we haven't reached out to you separately about setting up a "giveaways@" email address for your metro, it's because you already have one.
Big Network Wins
Do415 and Do214 Neighborhood Guides
This summer, both San Francisco and Dallas released neighborhood guides to curate Events based on what part of town users want to hang out in. Every neighborhood in your city has its own unique flavor, and neighborhood guides are a great way to help users find exactly what they're in the mood for.
Each specific neighborhood guide on Do415 and Do214 are set up just as you would any other List, but they also created really cool custom /p/ Pages to house the neighborhood guides (see: Do415 and Do214).
The benefit of the /p/ Page is that is serves as a single landing spot that you can drive users to via social or in the drop-down on your homepage.
And before you think these neighborhood guides are just window dressing, Jay in Dallas says they gained over 225 new Likes to their Facebook Page from a single Promoted Post announcing one of their guides. Looks like people love their 'hoods!
What else?
The benefit of the /p/ Page is that is serves as a single landing spot that you can drive users to via social or in the drop-down on your homepage.
And before you think these neighborhood guides are just window dressing, Jay in Dallas says they gained over 225 new Likes to their Facebook Page from a single Promoted Post announcing one of their guides. Looks like people love their 'hoods!
What else?
- New 'Decade So Far' Lists: After Pitchfork's "100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far" article received a ton of attention, doNYC had the great idea to create a List so that users would know anytime one of those artists was playing in New York. Think of it as a "best of" list for the past 5 years. The best part? The same list is already live on your site (e.g. http://do---.com/thedecadesofar) -- just be sure to thank Johnny at doNYC for doing all the hard work so you don't have to.
- Try sharing the original article (http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9465-the-top-100-albums-of-2010-2014/) along with a link to the List on Facebook and Twitter to see what your audience thinks about Pitchfork's rankings.
NBD & Programs
- Dell: Exciting opportunity coming down the pipes here. After meeting with a key contact on their consumer marketing team, they’re interested in a proposal for helping them launch a new product later this year thru January, a potential high $$ program that would combine tastemaker stuff + media + content creation.
- Healthcare.gov: Good news, our clients Weber Shandwick won the contract for fall enrollment. We have a call w/ them next week to begin discussing network-wide programs.
- Anheuser-Busch: Graham and Fef intro’d by AB in St. Louis to the key marketing people at all 5 regional AB offices. Following up to form relationships that can help every metro in each region. ALSO - scored a new $30k campaign for Do312 w/ Anheuser-Busch promoting the use of an app to send Budweisers to friends.
- Jack Daniels/Brown Foreman: We are finalizing a $30k program for DoLA with their Western based Marketing Manager who also oversees 415 and 206 regions. Had an introductory call with NY-based Marketing Manager for DoNYC and now she wants to get her Field Team in the mix. Midwest Marketing Manager meeting with Graham and Jeremy for 312 program soon!
- No Cameras Allowed: We have interest from Red Bull and Healthcare.gov to sponsor the tour. We’ll be discussing in the next week and will relay updates.
- New Program Outlines: While we kill it at creating custom programs around current client’s needs/wants, we’ve built out some exciting new programs ourselves that we are currently pitching out to potential clients/brands (specifically booking agencies). Here is the program outline for What Would [The Band] Do (example page here) and the outline of the Fan Vs. Band program.
- Goose Island: We concepted and delivered a $200K proposal for the fall (after approval from the metros involved). Stay tuned for feedback from Goose.
- Samsung: We delivered ideas regarding the "Show of the Week" program to them and we are currently awaiting feedback.
- SXSW Panels up for voting! Our beloved Scott Owens and Michael Feferman both have panels up for voting to be a part of next year’s SXSW Interactive Conference. We’ve put together a blog post with info so you can vote and share.
- Graham had a great FYF trip and gained further engagement w/Samsung and a new contact with KIA's agency. Had a great follow up call w/her this week.
- Future Folk: We wrapped up the Future Folk Part of Earth Tour 2014. Bravo people. While we’re still putting together the case study, We put together a lovely little slideshow recapping the tour. FYE, here it is.
WHOA HEY - great roundup y'all!
ReplyDeleteDo415 and Do214 - great job on the neighborhoods! We already hoped to do something like this with our site! Great examples for us, thank you :)