Culture on the Mobile Web

When you run a nonprofit organization you’re always looking for ways to both engage with your audience as well as generate revenue. People do everything on the go today, ranging from shopping to making weekend plans, and mobile devices have made everything easier and faster. Once upon a time, a visitor to a cultural institution, like a museum for example, would check the Internet from a computer to see what exhibitions were on view, their hours of operation, and the price of admission. In the information age however, people are accessing this information from multiple mobile devices. When in pursuit of something, whether a product or information, 90 percent of mobile device users alternate between different types of gadgets to reach their goal, according to Forbes.com.

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Establishing Your Presence on the Mobile Web

Given the number of people using their mobile devices to access information on the Internet, it’s a necessary step nowadays to optimize your pre-existing website for the mobile web. This means investing funds into adapting your content to appear in an optimum way to someone who’s looking at it on a smart phone or tablet. You can also incorporate effective mobile advertising platforms to increase revenue and seize the opportunity. Basically, your content needs to be accessible in a streamlined, clear style that will not be the same design as websites that are optimally viewed on a desktop computer. A good rule of thumb is to see how your users are going to be accessing information. For example, if you have an in-depth look at the analytics of your desktop website, how are visitors arriving at the site and what are they looking for? This can be achieved by seeing what searches people use to find you online, where they’re clicking from, and if any advertising you’re using is getting them there. Taking traditional online advertising as a model is a good way to decide what type of mobile advertising platforms you’ll be interested in.

Advertising and Aesthetics

Revenue from sales can be generated in a multitude of ways, whether from admission costs, ticket sales, or your gift shop. Every institution has its strong point. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, for example, has the renowned MoMA Design Store, which is a great revenue stream. At the same time, however, it deals in aesthetics. While you’re advertising your goods and services, you have to do so in a stylish way. However you generate revenue, advertising is always necessary, and so is a compelling mobile design and aesthetic. The days of purchasing space on the sides of buses and billboards has come to a halt as far as efficacy goes. Your audience wants to see incentives to click – or tap, as the case may be, and be blown away by what they see. Using mobile advertising platforms with the initiative of a beautiful mobile site design, as well as incentives to visit it, is a wise, 21st century worthy investment. For example, in a study from March of this year, a survey given to mobile device users about what type of mobile retail ads they were most likely to click, the top response reported by 28 percent of smart phone users was an advert that offered coupons or promotions, according to eMarketer.com. In other words, when you advertise, offer something.

Whether your organization specializes in visual art or music, make sure your mobile web design has an emphasis on the medium you deal in. Be innovative with what users access, whether by offering access to audio guides in your mobile site design for museum exhibitions, or the program to the latest orchestral concert. Aesthetics and advertising should always be matched. Be compelling, and focus on what your discipline is.