If you're someone like Ashton Kutcher, then you don't have a problem getting a lot of followers on Twitter. If you're someone like Ashton Kutcher, you can publicly challenge CNN to a Twitter popularity contest to see who would get 1 million followers first and then beat one of the largest broadcast news organizations in the world. For all the rest of us who aren’t someone like Ashton Kutcher, we would recommend the following to expand your company’s online marketing campaign into the 140-character realm of Twitter. How to Twitter for your company: 1. Before writing your first Tweet, make sure your company’s user profile is completely filled out, especially the bio, website link, user profile picture, and background theme. These elements all lay the foundation for branding your company to fellow Tweeters. 2. Make your company a constant presence. If you’re serious about building a strong online marketing presence in Twitter, you need to consistently be available to post valuable information and respond to any questions. The concept behind Twitter is that Tweeters are constantly looking for new information and are looking to obtain it in the fastest way possible, and so to be effective on this site, you need to provide what your followers are asking for. One tweet may seem like a drop in a bucket, but hundreds and thousands of tweets will start to add up and help build your company’s online marketing campaign. 3. Search for followers. Twitter allows you to search for other Tweeters by their name or user id (if you already know them) or through keywords. Keywords in twitter are identified with the # sign, like #iranrevolution. Search for keywords or trending topics in your company’s field of products or services and select to follow other Tweeters who are interested in or involved in this field. Tweeters you click to follow also have the option of following you back. You can check to see if they do at friendorfollow.com and decide to stop following them if they don’t reciprocate. You should also include keywords in your own tweets to let other people more easily find you. 4. Be yourself. Don’t use Twitter as a soapbox to directly market your company’s products or services. Offer information to set yourself up as an expert in your company’s field or answer questions about your field to help build a potential client base. 5. These are always good reminders: use good text slang grammar and spelling. Make sure your Tweets are clear and focused. There’s poetry in writing a good 140-character Tweet. Always include shortened urls instead of the entire url for a hyperlink in a Tweet. 6. Retweet interesting information you come across, share your friend’s tweets with others, and always acknowledge your Twitter friends and new followers to build a stronger and more supportive base. Bottom line, it takes a large investment of time and energy to learn how to twitter effectively to build a strong online marketing campaign for your company. -- Stephanie

When you can’t find existing software suited to optimize your company’s unique workflows, it’s time to take matters into your own hands with a popular solution that is quickly catching the eye of Fortune 500 companies — developing your own internal app. Also called enterprise apps, internal apps give you the option to create a custom app that is designed to support the unique aspects of your workflow, and potentially make your employee’s lives easier. But, creating the app doesn’t automatically guarantee more productivity and efficiency — you have to make sure you’re developing an app your employees will actually use. Before you invest a lot of time and money, let’s discuss what to keep in mind and do when developing your enterprise app so your employees will use it. Your Employees Come First Unfortunately, employees won’t use an app simply because it’s there (even if you’ve built it specifically for your company). This thinking takes mobile use for granted: apps that deliver a poor experience or don’t meet user needs will be abandoned. In fact, the rise of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies highlights that employees will use their own devices (and, by extension, the apps of their choice) to make work easier. The first step to avoid app abandonment is to consider who your employees are and what they will use your app for. Are they office workers who work from their desks all day? Are they on-the-road field workers? Do they work in warehouses or deliver goods cross-country? With your employees in mind, you next need to identify problems they face. For office employees, this could be coordinating schedules for meetings and project collaboration. For warehouse employees, it could be communication with other warehouses or those responsible for completing orders. Once you have identified their problems, you can start sketching out the solution your app will offer to improve their working experience. User Experience is Everything Developing an app that meets your employees’ needs is only part of the solution. An app that has a clunky or confusing interface will turn users away. According to a recent survey on user experience with enterprise apps, 83% of users think apps make them more productive, yet only 30% of users said their work app was intuitive. Just over half (52%) said their app was reliable or stable. The survey highlights the need for companies to focus on areas that enhance the user experience (UX). when developing their apps, which include: Functionality: Apps need to be intuitive to use. This includes a clean, simplified interface and easy navigation. Reliability and Stability: Employees need to know they can rely on your enterprise app to not crash or freeze. Speed: One study by CA Technologies found that 68% of consumers surveyed expected an app to load in six seconds or less (more than half expected a loading time of less than three). Apps that take longer are more likely to be abandoned by users. Usefulness: As we’ve already discussed, enterprise apps need to solve the problems of your employees. The Product Delivery Chain So what’s the best way to develop an app that equally addresses employee pain points and the user experience? App development has typically followed the delivery funnel approach, where product development takes top priority. Employees won’t see the app until it’s in the final stages of development. The end result is an app that might work but doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of end users. Instead, enterprises should focus on soliciting feedback along the way, which promotes collaboration from all departments along the entire development process. At Barefoot, we solicit feedback at almost all stages of development: we start with user interviews through a discovery phase, collect user feedback through the architecture and taxonomy descriptions, and finally build a functional prototype to demonstrate how the app will function, which we also use to solicit user input. Including feedback at every stage is complicated, but it’s necessary. Keeping communication channels open means that employees can explain their needs to developers and designers. Companies that take this approach will see less changes to the app, and higher adoption. Employees will feel valued knowing their needs are being addressed from the get-go. Ultimately, you’ll deliver an app that employees will enjoy using. Closing the Need Gap Companies need to consider the user experience and the development process before getting started on an enterprise app. Making changes after-the-fact can be costly in terms of development time and re-acquainting employees with changes. With apps playing an ever-growing role in our lives, companies are presented with a huge opportunity to provide true value to their employees and fix problems unique to their workplaces. Yet the current gap between employee needs and app quality is wide. By taking an employee-centered approach, you can take the lead in closing this gap. Your employees will thank you. Considering developing an enterprise app for your employees? Get in touch with us today for a free consultation.

Here we are in 2014 - and the mobile operating system debate is still not settled. Once Apple stomped onto the mobile scene in 2007 and gained a dominant cult following, competition with the hip giant seemed a daunting challenge. But then along came Android, much to the delight of open source fans and those seeking other options. This famously angered Steve Jobs, who according to the 2011 biography lamented, “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.” Yet destroyed Android isn’t, and is instead a leader viable player in the mobile operating system debate. Some even suggest this isn’t even a debate anymore, as the two have their own faithful following. Perhaps there is enough room in mobile space for everyone?  Personally, ever since I pitched my antique Nokia what feels like ages ago, I began my journey with Apple and only occasionally look anywhere else. It’s like a familiar friend, as with each new phone or update the changes are minimal but ostensibly powerful. I like that I know when the other person I’m texting is an Apple user, given away by our matching blue text messages - ahem - I mean matching iMessages. And that’s what pisses off so many Android users. The lockdown of Apple’s customization pales in comparison to the open source availability of Android. More and more frequently I am finding that colleagues are switching to Android for this very reason. So then, it all comes down to the type of user - right? Maybe, maybe not. With the announcements of changes coming in iOS 8 and Android’s L this autumn, here is a list of some of the differences which may help you decide for yourself:   1) Widgets Anywhere Both systems have apps, both systems have similar basic functionality. Until now, only Android offered widgets to be placed directly on the home screen, allowing users to with a glance know information such as sport scores, weather, even the latest Reddit stories. Apple just announced they too will include widgets as part of the iOS 8 update. They however will only be available in the notification center, which requires the user to swipe the phone and thus adding a step Android doesn’t require.   2) Adjustable Icons I’m not the youngest person in the world, so I naturally can’t see tiny things perfectly. Not as bad as a friend whose text message font is the size of the Times Square NASDAQ scroll, but it’s pretty bad. Therefore both of us as well as other mobile users prefer the ability to increase the size of fonts and features to help our ailing eyes. With Android, a user is able to increase the size of apps and widgets. Yet with iOS the apps are all the same size, regardless if your vision likens that of a bat.   3) Design Given that Apple released some of its more dramatic design upgrades with iOS 7, it’s no surprise that iOS 8 doesn’t come with any major design changes. It maintains the simplicity Apple is known for with a “flat” design, with the ideal outcome that a baby can figure out how it works.  Android on the other hand is attempting a massive shift in the design paradigm with “Material Design,” a comprehensive suite for managing the Android experience. The update includes all kinds of customization such as the ability to create animations, choose themes, and supports drawable tinting. Not to mention Android L overall brings more depth to the design with shadows and brighter, lighter colors.   4) Security Apple has the touch ID fingerprint sensor, allowing users to simply press on the home button to unlock the device. Yet this feature will be expanded in iOS 8 to not only unlock the phone but also to open password protected features like banking or social media apps. Google alternatively added the ability to unlock Android products like tablets and smartphones via the Android Wear smartwatch. Yes with Android you can really have a go-go-gadget watch. When it comes down to it, both mobile operating systems are competitive with features and functionality - and become more so with every update including this one. For example iOS 8’s new “HealthKit” app, poised to both replace some peripheral health and fitness devices, while making others much better by seamlessly integrating with them. Then Android similarly has added more apps to improve TV, gaming, camera, device integration and more. What’s great about this for consumers is that the two giants will continue to critically observe the other’s upgrades - and fight to stay one step ahead. Care to weigh in? What do you think of the updates? Let us know in the comments below.