Overit Blog

Quality Assurance Matters. Seriously.

Josh Shea — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:01:24 +0000

Social media in the Capital District erupted into frenzy recently when a local school published its yearbook with placeholder copy where student names should have been. But not just any placeholder copy. Funny placeholder copy. Except it obviously wasn’t that funny to the students. Or their parents. Or the administration. Let’s explain. The misprints occurred on pages of group shots. One picture included the caption “creepy smile guy”. Another: “tall guy”. A picture of a sports team had, instead of the bottom row of names, listed “Entire bottom row – not a clue”. What happened is obvious to anyone who has ever worked in production....

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Criticism Too Soon: iOS 7 App Iconography

Patrick Branigan — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:35:15 +0000

By now you’ve surely heard about Apple’s announcements from WWDC 2013 this past week that included iTunes Radio, OS X Mavericks and a sneak peek at what looks to be a revolutionary Mac Pro (for desktop). All are really electrifying advancements, all seemingly overshadowed by an outrage surrounding the most controversial announcement: iOS 7. Apple CEO Tim Cook called iOS 7 “a stunning new user interface.” But whether the design of iOS 7 and its aesthetic choices are actually well done is up for heavy debate. Naturally the web, especially the majority of the design community, is talking. And what I’m hearing and...

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Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics

Tim Jensen — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:01:17 +0000

Data is crucial to the success of any web campaign, but knowing how to properly review that data is just as crucial. If you haven’t used advanced segments in Google Analytics yet, you’re missing out on an incredible way to look at your website’s data on a granular level. What Are Advanced Segments? Advanced segments are a Google Analytics feature that let you filter data by just about any metric available. These filters can then be applied to any reporting section within the platform. Why Use Advanced Segments? Advanced segments offer a level of control beyond that available within the main reporting interface. For example,...

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What I Learned About Marketing from Traveling Solo

Janae DeRusso — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:26:17 +0000

Before I worked in marketing, I backpacked through Europe by myself. I wanted to learn more about the world, see new places and, of course, meet new people. When you look at those experiences, they both require research, planning, budgets, and most importantly of all, the desire and ability to communicate with people I hadn’t met before, from all cultures and backgrounds, with all kinds of past experiences. Today, I find myself following the same key lessons marketing brands as I did meeting people as I traveled. You’ll find a few of these lessons below. Make People Notice You (A Little Weirdness is Okay). In Istanbul’s...

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Creating a Website Experience Users Love

Lisa Barone — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:40:44 +0000

So here’s the thing – all the cool stuff you’re trying to do, the social media strategy, the motion graphics, the sick design? It doesn’t matter if all it does is lead people back to a website they’re going to hate. You need to walk before you can run and you need to get the basics of good usability before that digital marketing agency you hired can truly earn their keep. Said simpler: If your website sucks, it doesn’t matter how creative your marketing is. People are still going to hate you. You should fix it. As common sense as many usability principles may be,...

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Social Media: Forget the Strategy, Miss the Point

Janae DeRusso — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:59:08 +0000

Social media. If Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the tools you’ve chosen to get your message across, who dictates how they’re used? Does social media get its own strategy? If you ask Gini Dietrich, the answer is no. Gini writes: “There is no such thing as a social media strategy. That’s akin to saying you have a telephone strategy or a typewriter strategy.” Susan Murphy of Suzemuse says it even more bluntly: “You don’t want to be a social media expert.” Nothing we haven’t heard before, many will remember Peter Shankman’s light-the-Web-on-fire post about why he doesn’t believe in social media experts. But none of...

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Signs You Need To Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

Lisa Barone — Tue, 28 May 2013 15:38:19 +0000

It’s the Tuesday after a long weekend. Did you show up to work energized to tackle your To Do list? Or did you show up already feeling defeated because you know there’s simply no way you’ll be able to get it all done? Or because you’re watching your competitors climb further and further ahead of you with each passing week and you’ve had enough? Unless you walked through the door with fists in the air at 7:00am (or was that just me?) it may be time for some hard conversations. Namely, is it time to bring in the big guns to help you manage your digital marketing or is it something you can effectively manage inhouse? How do you know the difference?

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Kids Don’t Find Merida “Sexy”. You Do.

Mike MacDuff — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:40:06 +0000

The entertainment industry is no stranger to uphill battles. Whether they come in the form of complaints from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) or certain religious groups, it’s everyone’s favorite and most common foe. When a school shooting devastates a Midwestern town, why wouldn’t you blame what the children were watching? Or what they were listening to? But that needs to change. And it needs to change quickly as it’s us, the fans of creativity, who are losing out by having others judge what is appropriate and not appropriate for...

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What I Wish Clients Knew About Social Media

Lisa Barone — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:43:53 +0000

I oversee the Content and Social Media departments here at Overit. It’s a great gig and I’m lucky to have gotten it. I spend my days evangelizing the importance of integrating content and social into your marketing, breaking down how both can lead to better relationships and sales, and then, at the end of the day, I get to implement what we’ve spoken about and watch your triumphant fist pump when we’ve been successful for you. My job doesn’t suck. But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, either. As far as businesses have come in understanding the importance of social, there are still hard conversations...

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Design & Development Work Better in Tandem

Ethan Georgi — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:57:58 +0000

The process of designing and developing website and applications is changing. Tools and skillsets are always pushing forward, and the old way of doing things doesn’t cut it anymore. The traditional methodology has many names. Some call it the waterfall, implying the project is like water, flowing down through each department until completion. This is kind of naive, and obviously doesn’t allow anyone to go back upstream for any reason, ever. Others call it an assembly line, in which each department is handed something, does something to it and passes it on to the next department. This would be fine if we were assembling toys...

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