As entrepreneurs, we need to focus on the things that we do that are unique and present those features to users in the place and perspective where they are most likely to need them. Designing a better mousetrap can be a lofty goal on its own, but is often only the beginning of the process.
For the past three years, I have been leading an innovative start-up in a quest to make a complex process simpler for companies engaging in marketing programs through social media. We have come a long way in developing a simple and standardized method to manage risk and provide the robust measurement and optimization tools required to run programs at the size and scale required for the enterprise. In doing so, we have solved many major issues for our corporate clients, such as how to include disclosures in short form, automate compliance monitoring and report on the performance of each program independently. None of these advances will ever amount to anything, however, if the individual end user does not find our technology easy to use.
Today, we have taken a big step forward in making it easier for individuals to use our solutions in the very places that they create their messages, and I wanted to share a few insights into what this shift means to CMP.LY and to other start-ups hoping to enable users to leverage their tools in the simplest and most effective manner.
Our products are used across corporate communications, advocate/influencer campaigns and in contests or promotional programs within leading social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Until today, the easiest way to use CMP.LY disclosures was to cut/paste our links into your favorite social media dashboard. That seems simple enough on its face, but it still meant that there was an extra step in the process. Now, we are announcing two easy tools that provide users with instant access to their disclosures right from the leading social media dashboard or directly from their web browsers.
We have partnered with HootSuite, makers of the market-leading social media management system, to develop an app for their App Directory that will give users the ability to access CMP.LY disclosures right from their HootSuite accounts. The app allows for the creation of disclosures in stream, along with the ability to access, search and preview disclosures in dash, create disclosure banners to frame content such as articles and videos, add disclosures to social messages and more. It provides everything you need to stay transparent and compliant in social media without ever leaving your HootSuite dashboard. (You can install the CMP.LY HootSuite app here.)
Saving the user a step from cut & paste, or navigating away from their social dashboard required that we distill our core functions to a set of simple windows that operate independent of the space and style that we have developed for the web. Moreover, in the case of HootSuite integration, it meant that we needed to make our app look and function consistently with every other HootSuite feature.
Our goal is to bring CMP.LY's functionality to the very places where our users are most likely to need to access their information as they create messages. We understand that our users are often managing multiple messages and programs at any given time and that putting our product where our users need it, when they need it will go a long way to making their lives easier.
For our end users, this means a better experience; for our customers, this means more successful programs; and for us, it means a more successful product and broader reach. If you are leading a start-up, product or project, what can you do to make life a little simpler for your users? Let us know in the comments below and keep us posted on your progress.